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Lawsuit Alleges Biglaw Counsel Attempted To Rape Paralegal

Posted on 18th December 2019 by TSA Press

A shocking complaint has been filed in the Southern District of New York against Biglaw firm Fox Rothschild and counsel at the firm, Ian W. Siminoff. A former paralegal, Stephanie Jones, alleges claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, New York State Human Rights Law and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination. The complaint details escalating instances of sexual assault and harassment over a three year period.

The complaint alleges Siminoff repeatedly subjected Jones to physical touching, fondling her breasts and vagina:

On one occasion, while in Siminoff’s office, he closed the door and fondled Ms. Jones’s breasts. Ms. Jones pushed him off, told him to stop and left his office.

Siminoff’s attacks on Ms. Jones extended beyond the breast fondling attack in his office. He would stop by Ms. Jones’s desk and attempt to fondle her breasts and her body through her clothes.

On one occasion, when both were at the coffee machine, Siminoff put his hands under Ms. Jones’ dress and grabbed at her vagina.

Ms. Jones never touched Siminoff. Rather, she kept him at arm’s length to the extent she could.

According to the complaint, these physical assaults escalated to attempted rape:

In January 2015, after 5:30 p.m., during the work week, Ms. Jones found herself nearly alone on the 4th floor of the NJ office with Siminoff. During this encounter, Siminoff pushed Ms. Jones into a deserted bathroom and tried to have sexual intercourse with her.

Ms. Jones fought off Siminoff’s sexual assault.

In addition to the physical assaults, the complaint also details the sexual harassment Jones was allegedly subjected to. The complaint has over six pages of inappropriate texts that Siminoff sent to Jones. Some of what he allegedly texted Jones includes:

“Don’t mind me, I’m just laying here at 3 am thinking about kissing your breasts.”
“I’d like to pour that glass of wine on your naked body. As I see it, it trickles down your breasts, in between them, to in between your legs.”
“I’m doing what I usually do when I think of you.”
“Dreams about you last night. I always cum when I think of you!”
“Let me know if you want to know how I did you in my dream, too”
“I suppose there is the possibility, mind you, just a possibility, that kissing could lead to me doing you from behind?”
“Three different images, one after the other: 1) you spitting my cum into my ex’es hair; 2) you inserting veggies into her ass; and 3) you fucking Andy while I was sleeping”

Siminoff also allegedly sent Jones pictures of his genitals. The complaint says that when Jones would block Siminoff from sending her texts, he would harass her until she relented.

The complaint also alleges that when Jones complained to the Office Administrator that Siminoff made her uncomfortable and was inappropriate, she was denied her request to no longer work with Siminoff. The complaint further alleges she was told if she was unhappy at the firm there were “plenty of other places to work.”

Tyrone A. Blackburn, attorney for the plaintiff, had this comment about the lawsuit:

“The discrimination, harassment and intimidation apparently rampant at Fox Rothschild epitomize precisely the hallmarks of sexual abuse that the #MeToo movement has chronicled and seeks to combat. That Ms. Jones suffered not just the indignity of harassing behavior but also her employer’s failure to act when she reported it is as appalling as it is illegal.”

We reached out to the defendants for comment, but have not heard back.

Read the full complaint on the next page.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

The Happiest Time Of The Year: Bonus Time!

Posted on 18th December 2019 by TSA Press

It’s bonus season in Biglaw, and the major firms are slowly but surely rolling out their bonus announcements and telling associates what they’ll be getting in their stockings this year. But Elie sees a bit of a Scrooge in the early first move and slow matching cycle. What’s going on with the legal market and are we really looking at a recession in the making?

Zimbabwe man pleads for help after passport accidentally returned to Winners – The Zimbabwean

Posted on 18th December 2019 by TSA Press

His apartment is a mess of clothes after combing through every inch of his place — including all the trash bags.

The 26 year-old business student at Memorial University in St. John’s should be on his way home to Zimbabwe, but he’s stuck on his couch in his basement apartment.

“I am in a tight spot, because in that passport was my study permit, there was my U.K. visa, my Canadian visa,” he said. “So I am stuck, I can’t even go anywhere.”

Last week, he purchased two bags from the Winners on Stavanger Drive to carry what he needed on the long journey to Africa.

Tucked away

He realized he didn’t need both bags — but had already started packing them — so he took out what he owned and brought the black Guess duffel bag back to the Winners store.

Little did he know that tucked away in that bag was the most important document he owned, and according to store staff someone bought the bag on Saturday, before Mawora could get it back.

In an email to CBC a spokesperson for Winners said it feels terrible about Mawora’s predicament.

If people could just check their bags, maybe my passport is in there somewhere. – Leonard Mawora

The email goes on to say that the store can’t track the item, but “we fervently hope that a good Samaritan will find and return the documentation.”

Mawora’s heartbreaking story gets worse — he was heading home to mourn the death of his younger brother.

“It’s been really hard, because the world can be a lonely place,” said Mawora. “Since I lost my passport, I cannot even do anything.”

The international student has spent much of the past few days on the phone with anyone he thinks might be able to help.

Jeremy Eaton/CBC

The Zimbabwe embassy in Ottawa told him they could get him emergency travel documents to get into his home country, but without his Canadian student visa he can’t get back to St. John’s, and Mawora says it’s not easy to get documents in Zimbabwe.

“There are other people who have been waiting for this passport for more than two years and they still haven’t received this passport,” he said.

He told CBC the cost of a new passport would be approximately $700.

As a last resort he’s making a public plea to anyone who might have bought a black Guess bag from the Winners store in St. John’s over the weekend.

“If people could just check their bags, maybe my passport is in there somewhere,” he said. “Right now I’m stuck.”

Post published in: Featured

Partners Sometimes Steal Clients From Associates

Posted on 18th December 2019 by TSA Press

(Image via Getty)

Associates are often rewarded for originating new clients. Many firms consider business development when making partnership determinations, and some shops also provide associates origination bonuses for signing new clients to a firm. Originating business may be an unfamiliar process for many associates, and associates often may not think about the long-term implications of signing new clients to a firm. However, associates need to be careful when originating business to ensure that partners do not steal their clients or make it impossible for associates to bring their clients to subsequent law firms.

Partners often jump at the opportunity to take credit for signing new clients. Many law firms require partners to accumulate a certain number of equity points before they can be considered for equity partnership, and those points are usually obtained by originating new business. In addition, partners also have financial rewards for being responsible for clients, and may be entitled to a percentage of the revenue generated from clients to which the partner is attached. As a result of such incentives, partners may be motivated to take responsibility for matters originated by associates, and even lock associates out of working with a client so that a partner can be more connected to a new client.

Earlier in my career, I worked at a firm that did not provide origination bonuses or any other tangible reward to associates who signed new clients. Despite the lack of explicit rewards, one associate signed a lucrative new client to our firm. This associate did not have a written understanding with the firm about origination rewards the associate would receive, and the associate just trusted that firm management would treat this attorney right with respect to the associate’s new client.

However, the partners never rewarded this associate for signing a new client. Over time, the partners also involved this associate less and less on the matter that the associate originated, despite the fact that the associate was connected to the client socially and had valuable perspectives about the client and the issues involved in the representation. Furthermore, the partner involved in the matter did not provide information about the case to the associate who originated the client. This all seemed like a concerted effort to lock the associate out from being involved with the client and avoid a situation in which the associate would demand an origination bonus. Eventually, due to this bad faith and friction between the associate and firm management, the associate departed for a new position. The associate never received any type of reward for originating that business and did not take the client to the next firm at which the associate worked.

As the story demonstrates, associates should take measures to ensure that partners do not steal their clients or lock them out from developing connections with clients they originate. With some forethought, associates can protect themselves and minimize the likelihood of friction when they originate new business.

Earlier in my career, I had the opportunity to pitch a huge client that could generate six figures of revenue a year for our firm. I previously originated some business for that shop, and a dispute arose over how much money I was entitled to as an origination bonus. In order to protect myself and ensure that there were no misunderstandings between me and the firm regarding my business development, I asked the managing partner to sign an agreement about my origination efforts.

Asking my boss to sign a contract guaranteeing me an origination bonus and involvement with clients I signed was the hardest thing I had to do as a “baby lawyer.” I remember sitting in my boss’ office with flushed cheeks explaining that I had the chance to pitch this massive client, but I wanted the firm to agree to some stipulations first. I handed a one-page contract to my boss and asked that he sign it before we pitched the client. To my surprise, my boss agreed to sign the contract with very few changes, and we eventually signed that client to our firm.

Because we had a contract in place, there were never any questions about how much money I was entitled to. After the firm got paid by my client, the firm put my origination bonus in my next paycheck. In addition, our contract stated that I would be responsible for oversight of all the matters involving the client I signed, and the firm ensured that this part of the contract was followed as well.

While working at that firm, I was included on all emails related to my client, and participated in all conference calls as well. I was also invited to all meetings with the client, and I was able to be as involved as I wished with every matter involving my client. My boss kept me in the loop so much that, sometimes, it was inefficient! One time, we were tasked with reviewing the files of a former attorney of my client, and my boss invited me to join him in reviewing the files, since he didn’t want to leave me out of anything. I eventually told my boss that he should do whatever made us the most money, and he did not need to involve me in matters if it would be inefficient to do so. From then on, I was still involved with my client’s matters, but we struck a better balance between oversight and conducting work more efficiently.

All told, associates need to be careful to prevent partners from stealing clients they originate or locking them out of working on matters related to clients they sign to a firm. Partners may be motivated to steal clients for financial reasons or because they do not want clients to leave when the associate departs a firm. In any case, associates should not be afraid to ask partners to agree to origination bonuses in writing and stipulate that associates shall have oversight over matters they originate.

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

As Zimbabwe’s doctors strike, pregnant women search for care – The Zimbabwean

Posted on 18th December 2019 by TSA Press

New mother Vimbai Mhere gave birth to her daughter in a ‘back yard’ clinic run by midwife Esther Zinyoro [File: Chris Muronzi/Al Jazeera]

Harare, Zimbabwe – Thirty-three-year-old Vimbai Mhere sits on the cement floor of a modest, two-room apartment, sipping tea from a plastic cup and snacking on homemade cakes as she recovers from having just given birth to her fourth child.

“My prayer this morning in the bus was to find someone who could help me deliver my baby,” Mhere tells Al Jazeera.

Never had Mhere imagined she would be scrambling last minute for medical assistance. Early in her pregnancy, she registered to deliver her baby at her local state-funded clinic in Hopley, a poor, densely populated area on the periphery of Harare. But the health facility shut its doors to new patients before her due date.

Mhere’s story has become dangerously common in Zimbabwe, as state-run clinics and hospitals turn away patients or close down while junior doctors and nurses strike for better wages and conditions.

Caught in the crossfire of the standoff between healthcare workers and the government are people in desperate need of medical care, including expectant mothers.

Unable to accommodate her, Mhere’s local clinic referred her to another state-run facility in the Harare suburb of Utsanana.

“Last week, my sister-in-law who was also pregnant went to Utsanana to deliver and was sent away,” she said. “I knew I would not get help delivering my child there.”

Nor could Mhere afford a private hospital. So when her water broke, she and her husband boarded a bus bound for Harare Central Hospital, where she had delivered her other three children.

“Some people on the bus told us not to go to Harare hospital, saying there were no doctors or nurses,” she recalled. “Some said we should go to a home maternity in Mbare.”

By “home maternity”, they meant an unlicensed, informal, back yard facility.

As the pain of Mhere’s contractions intensified, the gravity of her predicament fully dawned on her. Her only option was to have her baby in a back yard clinic.

Worthless wages

Medical staff at Zimbabwe’s state-run facilities have seen their wages decimated by hyperinflation that has roiled the country’s economy this year.

Depleted state coffers have also left the government unable to purchase sufficient supplies for state medical facilities. Power shortages and rolling blackouts have only added to the myriad difficulties facing healthcare providers.

A junior doctor only earns about 400 Zimbabwean dollars ($20 at black market rates) as a basic salary and an “on-call allowance” of approximately 1,000 Zimbabwean dollars ($50) a month.

Practitioners want their salaries indexed against the United States dollar, to keep pace with inflation as the Zimbabwean dollar erodes in value against it.

After negotiations between the government and the union representing junior doctors failed in September, the union called a strike, which is still ongoing.

The doctors defend their labour action on the grounds that they have been incapacitated financially. But the government says the strike is illegal, and it has sacked more than 400 junior doctors and withdrawn salaries from others.

In late October, senior doctors who had assumed emergency-room duties downed stethoscopes around the country in solidarity with their junior colleagues.

With state hospitals and clinics in and around the capital Harare effectively closed for business, patients are now being forced to travel to Karanda Mission Hospital, some 200km (124 miles) north.

Karanda is a 150-bed hospital that was built in 1961 by the Evangelical Church of Zimbabwe. Still run by the church, it is now the last port of call for thousands of Zimbabweans who desperately need medical care.

In a bid to end the health crisis, Zimbabwean telecommunications billionaire Strive Masiyiwa offered to pay the salaries of the country’s 2,000 doctors for three months in the local currency if they resumed their duties. Senior doctors rejected the offer and called on their employer, the Zimbabwean government, to redress their grievances.

The dire state of the country’s healthcare system was captured in a report issued by United Nations independent human rights expert Hilal Elver after she visited the country in late November.

“I received disturbing information that public hospitals have been reaching out to humanitarian organisations after their own food stocks were exhausted and medical equipment no longer operational,” Elver wrote in her observations. “The hospital I visited was nearly empty, because of [the] doctors’ strike.”

Not spared

As was the case with other state medical facilities in Zimbabwe, the strikes did not spare Harare General Hospital.

Knowing this, Mhere – still in active labour – and her husband took the advice of their fellow passengers on the bus and headed to the neighbourhood of Mbare to hunt for a back yard maternity clinic.

“We had no choice,” said Mhere.

After a few enquiries, the couple landed on the doorstep of Esther Zinyoro, an elderly midwife and faith healer who delivered Mhere’s baby girl without complications.

“I praise God today I delivered without any problems,” says Mhere.

Zinyoro, who credits her work to the Holy Spirit, told Al Jazeera she has delivered babies for more than 200 women in her modest two-room apartment since she opened her doors to the public on November 11.

Unassuming and cheerful, wearing a white doek headcloth, the 70-year-old midwife said a request to assist two teenagers who were in labour at the understaffed local clinic in Mbare had convinced her to step into the breach left by striking medical workers.

“They were aged 16 and 17 respectively and were in labour and did not get the help they needed,” she said. “They just didn’t know how to handle the labour pain. There was no one to tell them what to do.”

Zinyoro arrived too late to help the young mothers. Bereft of proper medical attention, both of them lost their children. According to Zinyoro, one baby died because the teenaged mother “had not removed her underwear and the child was choked”.

“I was devastated and I wanted to help,” she said. “I retreated to the wilderness for three days and prayed to God on what to do.”

When she emerged, Zinyoro had made up her mind to open a clinic in her home, free of charge, for pregnant women who have no other viable option to deliver their babies.

On the day Al Jazeera visited, her back yard clinic was a hive of activity.

“I had seven women today,” Zinyoro said. “They all delivered their babies and there is only one woman (Mhere) left,” she says.

But patients cannot stay for long, says Zinyoro. Given how small her apartment is and the number of pregnant women who come to her in need, as soon as women deliver, they have to move on to create space for those in labour.

Zinyoro opened her doors thinking it would be temporary – a stopgap to help her fellow citizens weather the crisis. So when nurses from the local clinic told her to discontinue her work because they had reopened their doors, she started referring pregnant women to the government facility.

“I closed for two days but the women came back saying they were not being attended to at the clinic,” Zinyoro says.

Since then, the midwife has not turned anyone away.

From relative obscurity, her work has now won her national fame. The country’s first lady, Auxilia Mnangagwa, has visited Zinyoro’s apartment and donated food.

The midwife’s work has also won her the enduring gratitude of mothers like Mhere who had nowhere else to turn in their hour of need.

“I am grateful to gogo,” Mhere says, using the Shona word for granny. “I am not sure how and where I would have delivered my baby.”

Wife of Zimbabwe vice-president accused of trying to kill him – The Zimbabwean

Posted on 18th December 2019 by TSA Press

Marry Chiwenga (R) with her husband, Constantino (C), in August 2018. Photograph: Wonder Mashura/AP

The wife of Zimbabwe’s vice-president, Constantino Chiwenga, has been accused of attempting to kill him by disconnecting his life support while he was undergoing treatment in hospital this year.

Marry Chiwenga, née Mubaiwa, was arrested at the weekend and appeared at Harare’s magistrate s court on Monday where she was remanded in custody.

She is accused of illegally transferring almost US$1m (£740,000) overseas to purchase luxury cars and property, and faces additional charges of attempted murder.

Constantino Chiwenga, who played a leading role in ousting Robert Mugabe in a military takeover in 2017, has a serious disease of the oesophagus, which has made eating difficult and has required months of hospital treatment.

The 63-year-old former army chief is a controversial figure, blamed by many for recent waves of repression in the former British colony.

The court case and accusations will focus attention once more on Zimbabwe’s opaque political elite, which is frequently accused of graft and incompetent economic management, and on the significant wealth of some individuals.

Police documents allege that Merry Chiwenga travelled to South Africa with her seriously ill husband in June and attempted to prevent him from seeking medical attention until his security detail intervened.

In July she went to the private hospital in Pretoria where he was being treated and told staff to leave her alone with him before disconnecting vital equipment, police allege. When security personnel and medical staff intervened, she left the hospital, the documents claim.

The vice-president was later treated in China and has since returned to Zimbabwe. His wife has said she is innocent of any wrongdoing.

Local media reported that the marriage of the former beauty queen and the former head of the armed forces had collapsed.

Zimbabwe’s anti-corruption commission brought the fraud and money laundering charges against Merry Chiwenga. The commission has pursued a series of high-profile figures in the last year, jailing several of them.

Critics say the commission is highly politicised and its targets are all enemies of senior officials in the government of the president, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Zimbabwe faces a profound economic crisis exacerbated by drought. Millions of people there are reliant on food aid. Many of the problems are a legacy of decades of mismanagement under Mugabe, who died in September.

The rising prices have reminded many of the economic collapse just over a decade ago, when hyperinflation emptied shelves of basic foodstuffs and led the country to abandon its currency.

The situation in rural areas is particularly bad, aid workers in Zimbabwe say, though there is growing evidence of widespread malnutrition in cities too.

Morning Docket: 12.18.19

Posted on 18th December 2019 by TSA Press

* The Florida Bar is requiring a Florida attorney to take a professionalism workshop after he shooed a stowaway raccoon off of his boat in open waters. Bet the Florida Bar was moved by the heartbreaking pictures of the raccoon in the water. [Tampa Bay Times]

* Notorious RBG threw cold water on President Trump’s impeachment law knowledge yesterday after President Trump suggested that the impeachment process could be stopped by the Supreme Court. [USA Today]

* A California lawyer has been found guilty of running a scheme to secure foreign investment visas when legitimate investments were often not being made. [Mercury News]

* The Washington State Attorney General has sued the Trump Administration over ICE arrests made in state courthouses. [Seattle Times]

* Progressive groups are calling for Justice Brett Kavanaugh to recuse himself from a case involving the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. [CNBC]

* It looks like the CBD industry could be facing a flood of new lawsuits, and that’s not just people being paranoid. [Bloomberg Law]

* Lawyers for a stuntman who was killed on the set of The Walking Dead is asking for up to $100 Million in damages from AMC. [Yahoo Entertainment]

Mary Chiwenga’s controversy – Winky D prophecy fulfilled? – The Zimbabwean

Posted on 18th December 2019 by TSA Press

If you are die-hard music fan, then you probably know at least one singer whose words have turned out to be prophetic.

Mary Chiwenga: lover of hugs

Way back in the 1990s, even before the wool was peeled off our eyes, Thomas Mapfumo sang about “corruption in society” and “Jojo siyana nazvo” – a cautionary song to political activists. Decades later, Zanu PF has killed, tortured or disappeared its most vocal critics. Some have been abducted and fed on sewage water before being released. Lovemore Majaivana’s songs were also ahead of their time. Leli lizwe kalila mali was years before Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and decades before Mangudya’s bond notes. Even in Zhakata’s dance tunes were subtle messages which only make sense now. The Notorious BIG rapped about blowing up like the World Trade Centre, as early as 1994. The towers fell in 2001 – seven years after his song, Juicy.

Winky D – musician or prophet?

But can we talk about prophetic song lyrics without mentioning Winky D, Zimbabwe’s Messi of dancehall?

“NdaiCruiser ndiine jagwa – ndobva ndaona mai mupfanha vakahagwa”

The Second Lady, Marry Chiwenga, is in a spot of trouble with the law. She has appeared in court for fraud, apparently at the behest of Vice President General Chiwenga. Allegations of infidelity have been thrown about the independent press which is never short of spicy gossip. When VP Chiwenga appeared on television in November 2017, speaking of the “criminals surrounding President Mugabe,” did he mean his own wife? Who knows. What is clear is that Chiwenga versus Chiwenga certainly fits the lyrics to Winky D’s song Controversy.

“NdaiCruiser ndiineArmy Puma. Ndobva ndaona mai mupfanha vakahagwa!”

It is very hard to prove infidelity. You have to catch someone in flagrante delicto to prove they cheated. All we know is that the General’s wife loves to hug. A lot!

Hugs all around