Jones Day (Photo by David Lat)
Yikes. Things in the London office of Jones Day do not seem okay. Indeed, there’s a lot of discontentment of allegations of sexual harassment flying about. It all started when American Lawyer affiliate Legal Week repeatedly heard complaints about the firm’s London office in the wake of the #MeToo movement. They then decided to launch a six-month long investigation that consisted of in-depth interviews with 10 firm alumni that once worked in the London office, who vary in terms of gender and seniority. The stories they tell paint an unsettling picture of life at Jones Day’s London office.
Multiple interviewees described a pattern of senior male attorneys having relationships with junior women that usually resulted in the woman leaving the firm:
One woman, who spent several years as an associate at the firm, says: “There was an endemic culture of sexual inappropriateness among partners and associates and trainees—people felt they could behave inappropriately and get away with it.”
One former partner and one former staff member recall a number of relationships that took place between several senior men and junior women at the firm during the last decade, where the women involved in those relationships left the firm.“It was the same pattern—partner has an affair with an associate or trainee and it is the woman who left,” the former female associate adds.
The firm alums also talked about inappropriate comments and behavior at work events:
Another former female associate recalled a work dinner she attended a number of years ago where male lawyers at the firm boasted about sexual exploits, including infidelity, and “making amateur porn films”.
She said she felt “deeply uncomfortable and upset” by the scenario, adding that a nearby male partner did nothing to prevent the discussion.
Another described being objectified at a drinks event:
“I was talking to a female associate and a very senior partner there came up and said: ‘I’ve come to talk to the hot blondes in the room.’ He then asked us to guess his age—this was in a room full of people, in the early evening,” she said.
She said that after that incident she chose to never attend another drinks event at the firm.
One alumnus also said her work was unfairly targeted by a male partner and that even other male attorneys noticed the way she was treated. She ultimately credits these partner interactions with being the reason she left Jones Day:
“It’s the reason I left the firm,” she said adding she felt “destroyed” by the experience.
She said the partner frequently spoke to her aggressively, and occasionally male associates would comment on the difference in how she was addressed compared with them. She described one occasion in which the partner was “tearing me to pieces” near to open-plan offices, where “everyone could hear.”
When she decided to speak up about how she felt, she claimed it affected her prospects at the firm.
“I went from receiving excellent feedback, to being told I lacked confidence and was questioned about whether I even wanted to be a lawyer,” she said.
Here in the States, Jones Day is currently facing a purported class-action gender discrimination lawsuit alleging a “fraternity culture” at the firm and unequal pay behind the firm’s notorious “black box” compensation system with named plaintiffs across multiple offices.
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).