CDF
described
the
decision
as
unconstitutional
and
politically
motivated.
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
removed
Majome
from
her
position
as
chairperson
of
the
Zimbabwe
Human
Rights
Commission
on
Friday,
10
April
2026.
The
decision
came
just
days
after
Majome
publicly
criticised
parliamentary
public
hearings
on
Constitutional
Amendment
Bill
Number
3.
Addressing
journalists
at
a
press
conference
in
Harare,
CDF
deputy
spokesperson
Chiedza
Mulingwa
said
Majome’s
removal
is
meant
to
silence
dissent
over
the
proposed
amendment.
The
group
has
demanded
Majome’s
reinstatement
within
24
hours,
warning
that
it
will
pursue
legal
action
if
Mnangagwa
fails
to
comply.
“As
CDF,
we
strongly
condemn
the
brazen
and
unconstitutional
removal
of
the
chairperson
of
the
ZHRC,”
said
Mulingwa.
“Since
the
constitution
does
not
give
room
for
the
President
to
act
in
the
manner
in
which
he
has
done,
CDF
accordingly
views
this
development
as
a
calculated
and
retaliatory
move
designed
to
silence
dissent
and
intimidate
independent
constitutional
bodies.
“The
proximity
between
her
removal
and
her
well-publicised
concerns
reinforces
the
conclusion
that
this
action
is
politically
motivated.
“We
demand
that
this
unconstitutional
act
be
reversed
immediately
or
within
the
next
24
hours,
failing
which
we
will
be
considering
all
lawful
and
available
measures
to
challenge
this
illegal
action
and
to
simultaneously
intensify
efforts
towards
the
withdrawal
of
CAB3
in
its
entirety.”
The
CDF
cited
Section
237(2)
of
the
Constitution,
which
sets
out
strict
conditions
under
which
members
of
independent
commissions
may
be
removed,
including
mental
incapacity,
gross
incompetence,
or
misconduct.
It
said
that
none
of
these
grounds
had
been
publicly
established
in
Majome’s
case.
Meanwhile,
Majome,
who
has
since
been
appointed
as
a
commissioner
at
the
Public
Service
Commission
(PSC),
said
she
is
“exercising
her
right
to
remain
silent”
on
her
new
role.
When
contacted
by
ZiFM
Stereo
News,
she
declined
to
comment
on
both
her
new
appointment
and
her
transfer
from
the
rights
body.
In
remote
communities
such
as
Tinde
in
Binga,
village
health
worker
Margaret
Bernard
says
families
often
face
long
waits
for
emergency
transport.
“It
can
take
up
to
seven
hours
for
an
ambulance
to
come
from
Binga
District
Hospital
to
Tinde,”
she
said.
“When
there
is
an
emergency,
it
becomes
very
difficult
because
some
people
die
before
the
ambulance
arrives
or
on
the
way
to
hospital.”
She
added
that
while
air
ambulance
services
are
sometimes
available
for
emergencies,
they
are
not
always
accessible
to
local
clinics,
meaning
patients
must
first
reach
the
district
hospital,
a
cost
many
families
struggle
to
afford.
The
crisis
is
compounded
by
transport
charges.
Bernard
said
the
US$45
fee
required
to
hire
an
ambulance
to
Binga
District
Hospital
is
beyond
the
reach
of
many
households.
Some
residents
say
they
have
been
forced
to
turn
to
private
arrangements.
A
Victoria
Falls
resident
said
he
once
paid
about
US$240
for
fuel
to
transport
his
critically
ill
mother
to
Bulawayo
after
an
ambulance
was
unavailable
due
to
fuel
shortages.
Local
leaders
say
poor
road
conditions
are
also
contributing
to
delays
and
risks
during
patient
transfers.
Nkayi
ward
18
councillor
Thubelihle
Mabuza
Ncube
said
long
travel
times
and
damaged
roads
were
affecting
emergency
response.
“Ambulances
are
meant
to
speed
when
transferring
emergency
patients,
but
it
is
not
the
case,”
she
said.
“It
can
take
up
to
seven
hours
to
reach
Bulawayo
because
of
potholes,
dust
and
narrow
roads.
Some
patients
have
died
while
being
ferried
or
while
families
are
still
trying
to
raise
money
for
fuel.”
The
issue
was
also
raised
in
the
Senate
on
9
April,
where
Senator
Ritta
Ndlovu
called
for
urgent
attention
to
the
Bulawayo–Tsholotsho
and
Dete–Binga
roads.
“Last
week
I
used
these
roads
and
it
is
as
if
you
are
in
a
dream
travelling
along
those
roads,”
she
said.
“It
is
now
taking
seven
to
ten
hours
to
get
to
our
destination.”
Transport
and
Infrastructural
Development
Minister
Felix
Mhona
acknowledged
the
poor
state
of
the
country’s
road
network,
saying
rehabilitation
work
was
being
planned.
“I
want
to
concur
with
you
that
a
number
of
our
roads
are
in
a
sorry
state
because
of
various
reasons,”
he
said.
He
told
the
Senate
that
tender
processes
for
several
road
projects
had
been
completed,
adding
that
work
would
begin
once
the
rainy
season
ends.
“We
are
just
waiting
for
the
rains
to
stop
and
very
soon,
there
will
be
massive
rehabilitation
programmes
in
Matabeleland
South
and
North,”
he
said.
Mhona
said
the
Kwekwe–Nkayi–Lupane
Road
was
among
priority
projects,
noting
it
would
significantly
reduce
travel
distance
between
Harare
and
Victoria
Falls
once
completed.
He,
however,
urged
patience,
saying
the
government
was
managing
a
large
national
road
network.
BEITBRIDGE
–
Cross-border
travellers
and
traders
are
facing
lengthy
delays
at
Beitbridge
Border
Post
after
Zimbabwe
Revenue
Authority
officers
intensified
searches
of
bus
luggage
to
enforce
a
US$200
personal
rebate
cap,
with
some
buses
held
up
for
more
than
eight
hours.
Traveller
Talent
Goronga
said
the
searches
were
thorough
and
at
times
distressing
for
passengers
who
arrived
unprepared
for
duty
demands.
“ZIMRA
is
slapping
duty
on
everything,
even
perfumes.
I
felt
sorry
for
one
woman
who
was
bringing
goods
worth
R10,000
and
she
had
no
money
for
duty
demanded
by
ZIMRA.
They
took
her
goods,”
Goronga
said.
He
added
that
the
crackdown
extended
beyond
the
border
post
itself,
with
buses
intercepted
further
along
the
route.
“I
saw
several
buses
being
turned
back
to
the
border
after
they
reached
a
checkpoint
at
Bubi
and
were
told
the
goods
were
not
properly
declared,”
he
said.
“My
advice
to
our
brothers
and
sisters
in
South
Africa
is
to
familiarise
themselves
with
ZIMRA’s
new
duty
demands
otherwise
they
will
just
lose
their
goods.”
Fellow
traveller
Blessing
Hungwe
said
he
spent
more
than
24
hours
at
the
border.
Couriered
goods
appeared
to
attract
particular
scrutiny.
“ZIMRA
were
seizing
goods
from
buses
which
had
no
owners
among
the
passengers.
These
would
be
goods
given
to
the
bus
company
to
courier
to
Zimbabwe.
They
particularly
don’t
want
to
see
furniture,
unless
you’re
a
returning
resident,”
Hungwe
said.
In
a
public
notice
on
Monday
evening,
ZIMRA
said
border
processes
were
being
strengthened
to
improve
efficiency
and
promote
fair
trade,
reiterating
that
the
personal
travellers’
rebate
stands
at
US$200
per
person
per
calendar
month.
The
authority
said
goods
exceeding
that
threshold
are
liable
for
duty
on
the
excess
value,
while
bulk
goods
intended
for
resale
must
be
declared
as
commercial
consignments
and
cleared
through
licensed
agents.
ZIMRA
added
that
commercial
consignments
valued
below
US$1,000
can
be
duty-paid
directly
at
its
counters,
though
it
encouraged
the
use
of
clearing
agents
to
allow
for
pre-clearance
and
reduce
border
delays.
Travellers
were
urged
to
declare
goods
accurately
and
utilise
pre-clearance
facilities
before
arrival.
Nambya
is
one
of
Zimbabwe’s
16
official
languages,
as
recognised
in
the
2013
Constitution,
and
is
taught
in
both
primary
and
secondary
schools
in
the
district.
In
the
National
Assembly,
Bonda
asked
the
Minister
of
Public
Service,
Labour
and
Social
Welfare,
Edgar
Moyo,
to
explain
why
trained
Nambya-speaking
teachers
are
not
being
employed
in
Hwange
District,
while
non-speakers
continue
to
be
posted
there.
He
said
this
practice
was
“depriving
children
of
instruction
in
their
mother
tongue
at
the
early
education
stage”,
which
he
described
as
crucial
for
both
academic
performance
and
cultural
development.
Parents
in
the
district
also
say
the
issue
is
affecting
children’s
performance
in
school.
“Our
children
are
disadvantaged
from
the
start,”
said
Ester
Ncube,
a
parent
in
Jambezi
under
Chief
Shana.
“If
a
child
cannot
understand
the
teacher
in
Grade
One,
it
affects
everything
that
follows,”
she
added.
“Language
is
part
of
who
we
are,”
said
local
elder
Eliziya
Vashe
Shoko.
“If
schools
do
not
teach
in
Nambya,
we
are
slowly
losing
our
identity.
Government
must
take
this
seriously.”
Lindiwe
Sibanda,
a
recent
graduate,
argued
that
there
are
trained
teachers
who
speak
Nambya,
Lozvi,
Chidombe
and
other
local
languages,
but
they
are
not
being
deployed
in
the
area.
“At
the
same
time,
teachers
from
outside
are
brought
in.
It
does
not
make
sense.
These
languages
should
be
prioritised
so
that
communities
feel
a
sense
of
belonging
and
respect,”
said
Shoko.
Under
Zimbabwe’s
language
policy
framework,
learners
are
expected
to
be
taught
in
their
mother
tongue
during
the
early
grades.
Professor
Applies
To
Be
Dean
At
School
His
Agency
Investigated:
Is
this
a
strong
application
or
an
attempt
at
strong-arming?
Here’s
The
Best
Of
DC!:
How
does
your
firm
compare
to
the
best
Biglaw
firms
in
the
region?
There’s
A
New
Boutique
In
Town:
Liu
Shur
Kravis
make
their
mark
on
the
DC
scene.
State
Judges
Are
Arming
Up:
Threats
are
pushing
judges
to
take
safety
in
their
own
hands.
Welcome
Back
From
Disability!
Now
Collect
Your
Things:
K&L
Gates
gets
hit
with
a
hostile
work
environment
suit.
So,
while
a
downturn
would
certainly
impact
our
more
profitable
areas
like
M&A,
capital
markets
and
some
types
of
lending
transactional
work,
with
the
countercyclical
practices
we
have
built
up,
we
see
opportunities
to
balance
any
downturns
if
it
does
come
to
that.
At
this
point,
we’re
a
bit
sanguine
on
what
the
actual
impact
will
be,
because
economists
have
not
been
able
to
predict
what
the
impact
on
client
demand
will
be.
—
Peter
Nelson,
managing
partner
of
Dorsey
&
Whitney,
told
Law.com
that
his
firm
is
already
thinking
about
the
ways
the
war
in
Iran
and
the
economic
fallout
from
that
could
impact
their
business.
Nelson
added
that
he’s
pleased
with
Dorsey’s
positioning,
adding,
“When
you
see
the
type
of
workout
work
we
were
seeing
last
year,
it
is
often
a
harbinger
there
is
more
bankruptcy
work
coming.
We
are
well-positioned
to
capture
that
when
it
does
come.”
A
prominent
MAGA-world
figure
attempting
to
leverage
a
public-facing
role
into
something
that
looks
suspiciously
like
a
personal
perk?
Though
it’s
an
increasingly
familiar
tale
in
the
Trump
2.0
admin,
this
time
we’re
talking
about
attorney
Elliot
Berke.
According
to
reporting
from
POLITICO,
the
general
counsel
for
the
John
F.
Kennedy
Center
for
the
Performing
Arts,
ahem,
tried
to
book
his
own
cover
band,
the
DePlorables,
to
play
at
the
Center’s
rooftop
“Speakeasy,”
a
venue
described
as
an
“afterhours
jazz
club
hidden
in
the
sky.”
Because
when
you
think
refined
late-night
jazz
vibes,
you
obviously
think…
an
amateur
rock
cover
band
with
a
cringe-worthy
(and
dated)
political
name
that
happens
to
be
the
GC’s
side
hustle.
The
Speakeasy
is
supposed
to
evoke
exclusivity,
ambiance,
maybe
a
little
velvet-rope
mystique.
Berke’s
pitch
was
essentially,
“What
if
instead
we
did
‘Sweet
Home
Alabama’
but
make
it
ethically
questionable?”
Thankfully,
someone
at
the
Kennedy
Center
rejected
the
request,
and
reportedly
the
concern
that
booking
the
general
counsel’s
own
band
might
be,
you
know,
a
conflict
of
interest
played
a
role.
A
quaint
notion,
but
nice
to
see
it
hasn’t
gone
entirely
extinct.
Of
course,
the
official
spin
is
doing
a
lot
of
heavy
lifting
here.
A
Kennedy
Center
statement
insists
that
“programmers
asked
Berke
about
performing,
but
he
did
not
think
the
band
was
the
right
genre
and
did
not
want
the
Speakeasy
to
be
viewed
as
a
vanity
project
for
center
employees.”
Which
is
a
bold
defense,
but
POLITICO
reports
they’ve
seen
the
receipts
that
Berke
did,
in
fact,
push
to
get
the
DePlorables
on
that
stage.
Berke
also
reportedly
advocated
for
booking
the
British
prog-rock
band
Yes,
a
group
he
reportedly
represents.
Now,
to
his
credit,
sources
say
he
avoided
directly
engaging
with
the
band
during
negotiations
to
sidestep
the
appearance
of
impropriety.
In
the
end,
Yes
didn’t
take
the
gig
anyway.
A
spokesperson
for
the
band
said
they
declined
because
they
got
a
better
offer
elsewhere
in
D.C.,
which…
even
prog-rock
legends
know
when
a
situation
feels
a
little
too
messy.
All
of
this
is
unfolding
against
the
backdrop
of
the
Kennedy
Center’s
ongoing
identity
crisis.
Once
a
broadly
respected
cultural
institution,
it
became
an
oddly
specific
fixation
for
the
second
Donald
Trump
administration,
as
loyalists
were
installed
on
the
board
and
they
slapped
Trump’s
name
onto
the
building.
Nothing
says
timeless
artistic
legacy
like
a
rebrand
no
one
asked
for
and
Congress
hasn’t
approved.
So,
yes,
in
that
context,
Berke
trying
to
turn
the
Speakeasy
into
Battle
of
the
Bands:
In-House
Counsel
Edition
almost
feels
inevitable.
When
leadership
treats
a
national
cultural
institution
like
a
personal
branding
exercise,
why
wouldn’t
the
general
counsel
assume
the
rooftop
bar
is
his
shot
at
a
residency?
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
email
her
with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter
@Kathryn1 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].
Ed.
note:
Please
welcome
Renee
Knake
Jefferson
back
to
the
pages
of
Above
the
Law.
Subscribe
to
her
Substack,
Legal
Ethics
Roundup,here.
Welcome
to
what
captivates,
haunts,
inspires,
and
surprises
me
every
week
in
the
world
of
legal
ethics.
Happy
Monday!
This
week
I
head
to
Spokane,
WA,
to
speak
at Gonzaga
Law
School’s
Clarke
Prize
in
Legal
Ethics
CLE.
I’ll
be
joined
by Scott
Cummings
(UCLA)
where
we
will
discuss
“Good
Faith
and
Public
Trust
in
an
Erosive
Era.”
If
you
happen
to
be
in
the
area,
join
us
Thursday
evening!
Register here.
Last
week
I
published
an
op-ed
in
the Lansing
State
Journal not
on
legal
ethics,
but
on
a
topic
close
to
my
heart,
equality
in
women’s
sports,
in
particular
high
school
girls
varsity
tennis.
You
can
read
it here.
Now
for
your
headlines.
Highlights
from
Last
Week
–
Top
10
Headlines
#1
“Lawyers
Obliged
to
Disclose
Judicial
Recusal
Grounds,
ABA
Says.” From Bloomberg
Law: “Lawyers
who
possess
information
that
they
know
is
‘reasonably
likely’
to
cause
a
judge
to
be
disqualified
from
a
case
must
disclose
what
they
know,
the
American
Bar
Association
says
in
a
new
ethics
opinion.
Yet
when
the
lawyer
possesses
the
information
only
because
it’s
related
to
a
client
representation,
their
disclosure
obligation
is
subject
to
the
lawyer’s
duty
of
confidentiality
under
the
Model
Rules
of
Professional
Conduct,
ABA
says
in
its
Wednesday opinion.”
Read
more here.
#2
“Bondi
Tried
to
Kill
Ethics
Investigations.
Now
She’ll
Face
One.” From USA
Today: “A
broad
coalition
of
lawyers
and
legal
groups
will
once
again
accuse Pam
Bondi of
misconduct
for
using
her
former
position
to
serve
only
Trump
and
not
the
Americans
she
swore
to
serve.”
Read
more here.
#3
“Lawyer
Sued
for
Charging
Client
for
34.5
Hours
of
Work
in
1
Day.” From
the ABA
Journal: “An
Australian
lawyer
has
been
sued
for
billing
a
client
for
34.5
hours
in
a
single
day.”
Read
more here.
#4
“Supreme
Court
Secrecy
Includes
Reasons
for
Recusal.” From The
New
York
Times: “The
Supreme
Court
has
gotten
a
lot
of
criticism
lately
for
deciding
important
questions
on
its
emergency
docket
without
explaining
its
reasoning.
Something
similar
is
going
on, a
recent
study
found,
in
the
justices’
decisions
about
whether
to
disqualify
themselves
from
cases
in
which
they
may
have
a
conflict
of
interest.
The
study
was
prepared
by Richard
Lazarus,
a
law
professor
at
Harvard
and
a
keen
student
of
the
court.
He founded
an
institutedevoted
to
the
work
of
the
court,
has
published
studies
of
its
practices
and
has
argued
before
it.
He
is
also a close
friend of Chief
Justice
John
Roberts.
That
made his
latest
project,
about
the
shortcomings
in
the ethics
rules announced
by
the
Supreme
Court
in
2023,
a
little
tricky.”
Read
more here (gift
link).
#5
“LDF
Calls
on
DOJ
to
Reverse
Course
on
Attempts
to
Sideline
State
Ethics
Investigations,
Ensure
Its
Lawyers
Are
Held
Accountable
for
Unethical
Conduct.” From
the Legal
Defense
Fund: “The
Legal
Defense
Fund
yesterday
submitted public
comment to
the
U.S.
Department
of
Justice
(DOJ),
calling
on
the
agency
to
ensure
its
attorneys
are
held
accountable
when
misconduct
occurs.
The
comment
comes
after
DOJ published
a
proposed
rule in
the
Federal
Register
that
would
allow
the
Attorney
General
to
intervene
in
state
bar
disciplinary
investigations
and
demand
that
those
investigations
be
suspended
while
DOJ
conducts
its
own
internal
review.
LDF
highlights
how
the
rule
would
weaken
independent
oversight
of
DOJ
attorneys
by
shifting
greater
control
over
those
investigations
to
the
agency
and
making
it
harder
for
state
bar
authorities
to
investigate
misconduct.
The
proposed
rule
also
conflicts
with
federal
law,
which
requires
DOJ
attorneys
to
follow
the
same
ethical
rules
as
other
lawyers.”
Read
more here.
#6
“Pro
Se
Workers’
AI
Assists
Lead
Courts
to
Warnings,
Sanctions.” From Bloomberg
Law: “Oscar
Brownfield—with
AI
help—was
representing
himself
in
Oklahoma
federal
court
when
he
sought
sanctions
against
his
employer’s
counsel,
accusing
them
of
knowingly
filing
false
claims
in
an
ongoing
litigation.
His
unsuccessful request to
strike
certain
pleadings
from
the
Cherokee
County
School
District’s
summary
judgment
motion
backfired,
however,
when
opposing
counsel
revealed
that
Brownfield’s
artificial
intelligence-supported
motion
cited
fictitious
cases.”
Read
more here.
#7
“Bills
to
Rein
in
Outside
Investment
in
Law
Firms
Advance
in
California,
Illinois.” From Reuters: “State
lawmakers
in
two
of
the
largest
markets
in
the
United
States
are
moving
to
erect
ethical
firewalls
between
law
firms
and
outside
capital,
as
investors
and
lawyers
increasingly
explore
back-office
partnerships
and
other
deals.”
Read
more here.
#8
“What
It
Means
to
Be
Technology
Competent
in
2026.” From JDSupra: “When
the
ethical
duty
of
technology
competence
officially
arrived
in
2012,
courtesy
of
new Comment
8 to
Rule
1.1
of
the
ABA
Model
Rules
of
Professional
Conduct,
the
expectations
were
relatively
modest.
Much
has
changed
since
then.
Technology
is
now
deeply
embedded
in
the
legal
profession,
bringing
both
new
risks
and
new
opportunities
that
demand
the
modern
litigator’s
attention.”
Read
more here.
#9
“The
Number
of
Law-School
Grads
Getting
Extra
Time
for
the
Bar
Exam
Is
Surging.” From TheWall
Street
Journal: “More
aspiring
young
lawyers
are
asking
for—and
getting—extra
time
to
finish
the
bar
exam,
according
to
a
Wall
Street
Journal
analysis.
…
The
development
follows
one
already
coursing
through
high
schools
and
colleges:
More
students
have
diagnoses
for
disabilities
like
ADHD
and
receive
extra
time
for
classwork
or
the
SAT.
Now,
as
this
generation
enters
the
workforce,
the
phenomenon
has
reached
professional
licensing
exams—and
law
firms
are
adapting,
launching
programs
to
support
young
associates
with
diagnoses. Perry
Zirkel,
a
disability-law
scholar
and
former
Lehigh
University
dean,
said
the
need
for
testing
accommodations
for
truly
disabled
students
is
real,
but
he
worries
about
unfairness.
Savvy
families
that
can
pay
thousands
of
dollars
for
private
disability
assessments,
he
said,
gain
advantages
by
gaming
the
system.”
Read
more here (gift
link).
#10
“How
Trump
Purged
Immigration
Judges
to
Speed
Up
Deportations.” From The
New
York
Times: “Judges
are
ordering
an
unprecedented
number
of
people
deported
after
coming
under
significant
pressure
from
the
administration
to
do
so
or
risk
losing
their
jobs.”
Read
more here (gift
link).
Get
Hired
Did
you
miss
the
500+
job
postings
from
previous
weeks?
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them
all here.
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you
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colleagues
who
care
about
legal
ethics? Please
share
the
Roundup
with
them.
I’d
love
to
see
our
community
continue
to
grow!
Renee
Knake
Jefferson
holds
the
endowed
Doherty
Chair
in
Legal
Ethics
and
is
a
Professor
of
Law
at
the
University
of
Houston.
Check
out
more
of
her
writing
at
the Legal
Ethics
Roundup.
Find
her
on
X
(formerly
Twitter)
at @reneeknake or
Bluesky
at legalethics.bsky.social.
If
an
employee
tells
you
—
repeatedly,
over
the
course
of
months
—
that
the
work
environment
is
making
them
physically
ill,
firing
them
roughly
a
month
after
they
take
disability
leave
sounds
like
a
lawsuit
in
the
making.
K&L
Gates
is
learning
this
lesson
the
hard
way.
Bonnie
Carter,
a
former
IT
manager
has
filed
a
federal
lawsuit
against
the
firm
in
the
Western
District
of
Pennsylvania,
asserting
claims
of
discrimination,
retaliation,
and
hostile
work
environment.
The
heart
of
the
allegations
are
that
the
firm
violated
the
Americans
with
Disabilities
Act
by
terminating
her
just
32
days
after
she
returned
from
approved
short-term
disability
leave.
And
the
timeline
the
complaint
lays
out
is,
to
use
a
legal
term
of
art,
not
super
great
for
the
defense.
Carter
joined
K&L
Gates
in
March
2023
as
Manager
of
Endpoint
Engineering,
overseeing
IT
engineers
and
handling
technical
issues
across
the
firm’s
global
offices.
She
alleges
that
she
received
positive
performance
reviews
in
December
2023
and
December
2024
and
routinely
worked
50-plus
hour
weeks.
According
to
the
complaint,
problems
began
when
the
firm
hired
a
new
Chief
Information
Officer,
Harpreet
Suri,
in
August
2023.
Within
months,
plaintiff
alleges
that
the
new
regime
set
the
tone
by
telling
IT
staff
that
“everyone
she
has
encountered
in
the
IT
department
is
generally
lazy
and
gets
paid
too
much.”
There
are
allegations
that
the
CIO
“routinely
yelled
and
screamed”
at
IT
staff,
made
threats
about
job
security,
and
generally
ran
the
department
through
intimidation.
One
notable
allegation
claims
that
after
the
plaintiff’s
team
successfully
completed
an
assignment
to
perform
about
100
hours
of
coding
over
four
days,
the
only
reward
for
working
through
the
nights
was
a
call
to
berate
them
for
causing
the
rush
—
a
rush
that
management
imposed
upon
them
—
through
poor
planning.
By
early
2025,
plaintiff
says
the
environment
had
taken
a
tangible
physical
toll.
She
was
vomiting
in
the
mornings,
unable
to
sleep,
and
suffered
severe
stomach
pain.
Between
January
and
September
2025,
she
claims
she
raised
these
issues
with
her
direct
supervisor
on
at
least
four
separate
occasions,
explicitly
connecting
her
health
problems
to
the
workplace.
On
September
10,
2025,
Carter’s
physician
told
her
she
needed
to
immediately
reduce
her
stress
levels
and
mandated
a
medical
leave
of
absence.
She
applied
for
and
was
granted
short-term
disability
leave
through
October
6,
2025.
When
she
returned
to
work
on
October
6,
the
complaint
alleges
that
her
supervisor’s
demeanor
was
“dramatically
and
immediately
different,”
and
Carter’s
work
scope
shrunk
to
just
two
projects.
This
effectively
stripped
her
of
approximately
85
percent
of
her
job
responsibilities.
Then,
32
days
after
her
return,
Carter
received
a
Teams
call
invite.
Nothing
good
ever
happens
over
Teams,
and
this
was
no
exception.
An
HR
rep
informed
Carter
that
her
“position
has
been
eliminated.”
A
lawyer
trying
to
avoid
litigation
might’ve
suggested
waiting
at
least
more
than
a
month
before
putting
the
firm
in
a
position
that
looks
so
retaliatory.
When
reached
for
comment,
the
firm
replied
that
“the
firm
does
not
comment
on
personnel
matters.”
The
lack
of
comment
isn’t
surprising,
though
personally
I’d
placed
my
money
on
the
firm
citing
ongoing
litigation
as
opposed
to
“personnel
matters.”
Once
there’s
a
federal
lawsuit,
it
feels
like
it’s
grown
a
bit
beyond
a
mere
personnel
matter.
For
HR
teams,
the
sequence
here
is
hard
to
look
away
from.
An
employee
raises
health
concerns
tied
to
the
workplace
multiple
times.
Management
acknowledges
but
does
not
act.
The
employee
takes
approved
leave.
She
returns
to
a
sharply
reduced
role.
Weeks
later,
she
is
gone.
That
is
the
kind
of
chain
of
events
that
draws
legal
attention
—
and
the
kind
that
better
internal
processes
might
have
interrupted
well
before
it
reached
a
courtroom.
This
also
isn’t
K&L
Gates’s
first
rodeo
with
ADA
claims.
Back
in
2020,
another
Pittsburgh-based
employee
—
a
data
specialist
named
Frank
Krastman
—
sued
the
firm
under
the
ADA
after
alleging
he
was
fired
for
requesting
disability
accommodations
related
to
anxiety
and
ADHD.
No
one
will
confuse
Biglaw
with
a
warm
and
fuzzy
environment.
The
work
is
high-impact
and
the
deadlines
are
tight.
In
an
industry
that
is
—
for
now
—
denominated
in
time,
every
level
of
the
firm
finds
itself
stressed.
But
just
because
Biglaw
is
a
pressure
cooker
doesn’t
mean
the
staff
has
to
contend
with
physical
illness
brought
on
by
the
job.
(The
complaint
in
Carter
v.
K&L
Gates
LLP,
No.
2:26-cv-00577
is
on
the
next
page…)
