Harassment, Discrimination + Mean Web Comments: Why Lesbian Attorney Julie Kamps Wants $50 Million From Her Old Boss
Fifty million dollars is probably one of those arbitrary sums her attorney identified as reasonable damages, but that’s what lesbian Julie Kamps wants from her former worldwide law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.
“One or more partners” at the firm — where she worked from 1998 thru January, when she was fired — allegedly wrote “highly negative, gay-bashing and damaging comments” about Kamps on a website; on the job, she faced “repulsive harassment and discrimination” because she wore men’s dress shirts and “does not fit into typical feminine stereotypes.” For this, Kamps, who lives in California with wife Michelle, wants $50 million. And to be reinstated at the firm. As partner.
Oh, and there’s this: alleged sexual advances that went unreturned!
In the complaint, to be filed this week, Kamps claims that Janice Mac Avoy, a litigation partner, “knowingly made unwelcome sexual advances and sexual comments to Kamps, both alone and in the presence of others.” Mac Avoy allegedly “told Kamps it was ‘the biggest regret of her life’ that she had not slept with Kamps ‘when she had the chance,’” and discussed various sexual acts with Kamps, the complaint states. Kamps also alleges that Mac Avoy encouraged her to “wear women’s clothes,” because William McGuinness, chair of the firm’s litigation department, believed Kamps’s preference for men’s shirts could “make clients uncomfortable.”
Naturally, the Fried lawfirm believes “this lawsuit has no substance and will be dealt with by our lawyers.”
Hope she wins !
bollocks!
I worked with Julie Kamps during her tenure at Fried Frank and have no reason whatsoever to doubt her honesty and integrity. Her lawsuit echoes other currently active discrimination cases by former women emlpoyees of the firm, who, although they are not gay, allege related issues and/or patterns of harassment and discrimination, and, in some cases, biased negative reviews. In addition, two other female former employees of Fried Frank filed lawsuits against the firm in recent years, successfully ending the harassment of an older secretary who was thus able to continue working until she retired voluntarily; the firm also settled with a black secretary named Bobbie Fisher, as reported in the Amsterdam News.
I am definately bookmarking this page.
Take’em down sister!
The chairperson of this entire firm is a WOMAN … a GAY-FRIENDLY woman, so I don’t think the majority of the firm has a problem with women defying stereotypes. This suit will not go anywhere, and no lawyer is willing to represent her so she is representing herself.
In No. 6 · Daniel wrote, “The chairperson of this entire firm is a WOMAN … a GAY-FRIENDLY woman, so I don’t think the majority of the firm has a problem with women defying stereotypes. This suit will not go anywhere, and no lawyer is willing to represent her so she is representing herself.”
A gay-friendly chairperson is not a defense against a harassment suit – management is supposed to have mechanisms in place to stop such behavior as soon as it is reported.
As to “representing herself,” why should she pay an attorney for work that she can handle on her own? If she was not an attorney, you might wonder why no attorney would take the case, but since she is, she may be just trying to maximize her income.
B, clearly this ‘behavior’ was NOT reported until now, so how would management have stopped it? And a gay-friendly woman as chairperson simply shows that if there were some actual incident to be dealt with, the firm would have handled it appropriately. Clearly, this lawyer did not mind being constantly sexually harassed until she was unemployed.
And no, you don’t represent yourself in a $50 million lawsuit to save money. It is neither ideal nor the norm to not have a lawyer representing you in a case in which you are the plaintiff.
I’ve known Julie Kamps for 20 years. She’s an intelligent, hardworking, high-integrity woman, and I cannot imagine that she is doing anything but telling the truth about her experience.