Troutman
Pepper
has
settled
the
racial
discrimination
lawsuit
brought
by
former
associate
Gita
Sankano,
who
alleged
she
was
the
firm’s
only
Black
female
attorney
in
its
D.C.
office,
subjected
to
a
“dehumanizing”
email
from
a
partner,
and
then
fired
after
she
complained
about
it.
Trial
had
been
scheduled
to
begin
next
month.
Terms
were
not
disclosed.
“Both
we
and
Ms.
Sankano
are
pleased
that
a
settlement
of
this
matter
has
been
reached,”
said
Michael
Willemin,
a
partner
at
Wigdor
LLP
who
represented
Sankano.
Sankano
had
sought
at
least
$35
million
in
economic
and
punitive
damages.
To
recap
the
background,
because
it
is
worth
recapping
—
Sankano
filed
suit
in
January
2024,
alleging
that
after
a
senior
partner
retired
and
she
was
reassigned
to
work
under
partner
Matthew
Bowsher,
things
went
sideways
fast.
The
complaint
describes
“aggressive
emails
questioning
her
cognitive
ability,”
culminating
in
one
that
the
filing
characterized
as
“outrageously
demeaning,
dehumanizing,
and
demoralizing.”
The
email
itself,
included
in
the
complaint,
features
Bowsher,
ahem,
generously
donating
20
minutes
of
his
morning
to
inform
Sankano
that
her
communication
skills
were
“elementary”
and
that
he
simply
did
not
know
“what
more
I
can
say
here.”
(He
had
more
to
say.
It
went
on.)
When
Sankano
complained
to
HR,
the
firm’s
response
was
interesting.
According
to
the
complaint,
it
took
the
firm
77
days
to
investigate.
The
conclusion
of
that
investigation?
Bowsher’s
email
was
“inappropriate”
but
not
racist
because,
the
firm
argued,
he
treated
people
at
his
prior
job
the
same
way.
As
I
noted
at
the
time,
arguing
your
partner
is
a
generalized
equal-opportunity
menace
is
certainly
one
defense.
This
case
has
been
percolating
since
early
2024,
and
it
reaches
its
conclusion
in
a
legal
landscape
where
Biglaw
firms
have
spent
the
past
year
dismantling
DEI
programs
—
cutting
affinity
groups,
scrubbing
websites,
and
signing
executive
order
deals
—
under
pressure
from
an
administration
that
has
made
DEI
its
favorite
piñata.
The
optics
of
settling
a
$35
million
racial
discrimination
suit
in
that
environment
says
enough
(even
though
Troutman
Pepper
has
not
commented
on
the
settlement).
Sankano,
for
her
part,
gets
to
move
on
while
the
firm
gets
to
avoid
a
trial.
The
partner
whose
emails
apparently
needed
77
days
of
investigation
to
be
deemed
merely
“inappropriate”
presumably
continues
his
career
uninterrupted.
Earlier:
Former
Associate
Hits
Biglaw
Firm
With
Racial
Discrimination
Case
After
‘Dehumanizing’
Email
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of
The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
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and
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@Kathryn1 or
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