LeClairRyan recently relocated to the SunTrust Center. Photo by Evelyn Rupert.
A downtown law firm has been hit with a lawsuit filed by one of its former attorneys, who claims she lost out on pay, promotions and was discriminated against for being a woman.
Michele Burke Craddock is suing LeClairRyan, alleging gender-based employment discrimination in violation of provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, retaliation and other claims during her 12-year stint at the firm, which ended last March.
Her 32-page suit was filed in Richmond federal court on Wednesday after she took her grievances through the formal complaint process at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last January. The EEOC on Dec. 4 issued a notice of her right to sue the firm.
Craddock’s allegations go into great detail to explain how LeClairRyan attorneys are compensated. Much of the case centers on so-called origination credits, a method of compensating attorneys who initially take on a case or help the firm win the ability to work a given case.
“Repeatedly, origination decisions were made in favor of male shareholders and against female shareholders,” the cases alleges. “Justification for such action has included stereotyped concerns over a male attorney’s need to support a family.”
LeClairRyan, through its chief legal officer Bruce Matson, submitted a prepared statement on Thursday in response to the Craddock case.
“LeClairRyan views the lawsuit as groundless,” the statement reads. “We are proud of the opportunities that women have at the firm, which has been noted by national organizations.”
It cites awards the firm has earned as a top law firm for gender diversity. Most recently, Law360 recognized LeClairRyan in the “Top 100 Best U.S. Law Firms for Female Attorneys.”
Read the lawsuit (PDF)
Craddock focuses part of the suit on a widely publicized case she worked in which the firm won a $77 million settlement for its client in 2013. From that, LeClairRyan earned a fee of more than $20 million, its largest fee recovery in its history, according to the suit. The case also generated $3.5 million in billable hours in the first two years of work, before the firm agreed to a contingency fee.
Craddock was co-lead counsel in that case but claims that she was denied origination credit in favor of male partner. She claims that male partner initially caused the firm to be fired by the client, but Craddock’s suit states that she coaxed the client to come back around.
“Craddock’s team’s efforts were key to propping the firm’s sagging financial condition in years that it struggled to make budget,” the suit says.
Beyond the discussion of those particular fees, Craddock’s lawsuit includes a lengthy section titled “LeClairRyan’s History of Male Dominated Decision-making and Gender Discrimination.”
It details alleged practices of compensation, promotion and other areas that Craddock says favor male attorneys.
“This is most apparent in its treatment of female attorneys who have attained shareholder status, who have been denied terms of employment enjoyed by the firm’s male shareholders,” the suit alleges. “In 2015, of the firm’s 157 shareholders, only 31, or 19.7 percent, were female.”
Craddock, 49, worked at the firm from 2003 until last March. She attained shareholder status at LeClair in 2012, although the lawsuit claims she was eligible for the promotion earlier. She also claims the firm wouldn’t waive her $100,000 shareholder buy-in fee, which they had done for some male shareholders.
The suit claims that the firm’s decisions have been controlled by a small group of male leaders, pointing to the fact that its top senior management positions are held by co-founder and chairman Gary LeClair, President and COO Michael Hern and current CEO David Freinberg.
The firm’s 14-member board includes three women, and its compensation committees have been predominately male, the suit claims.
The case describes compensation criteria as being “cloaked in secrecy” and involving “back-office deals favoring the firm’s male shareholders.”
Craddock claims most shareholders earn at least $300,000 a year in salary, almost double what she made. The suit goes on to claim the pay disparities between men and woman are “systemic and firm-wide.”
Craddock claims there is bias in women’s access to the firm’s supplemental retirement plan and in its internal referral service. She alleges that female working attorneys are billed at lower rates, requiring them to work more hours to reach the same billing goals, “with less time to market for her own client originations.”
It claims female attorneys needing time away from work for children, family and medical obligations are forced to “‘buy’ such ‘flexibility.’”
It states that male shareholders with such issues or slow years revenue-wise are “carried” and not pressured to take part-time status or any reduction in compensation.
When she opposed the “selective treatment,” Craddock alleges that the firm’s leadership retaliated against her.
Craddock ultimately submitted her resignation from the firm Feb. 2, 2015. The lawsuit describes her departure the following month as a “constructive discharge.”
She now has her own practice with her husband, John Craddock, also a former LeClairRyan attorney.
A message left at Craddock’s office was not returned by press time. She is represented in the case by Harris Butler and Paul Falabella of Richmond firm Butler Royals.
Butler said they are confident in the facts of the case.
“Obviously it’s a very detailed, factual complaint,” he said. “So I think the facts speak for themselves. And we look forward to putting on a case to a jury.”
She’s asking the court to award back pay and other lost benefits, as well as damages to be determined by a jury.
LeClairRyan recently relocated to the SunTrust Center. Photo by Evelyn Rupert.
A downtown law firm has been hit with a lawsuit filed by one of its former attorneys, who claims she lost out on pay, promotions and was discriminated against for being a woman.
Michele Burke Craddock is suing LeClairRyan, alleging gender-based employment discrimination in violation of provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, retaliation and other claims during her 12-year stint at the firm, which ended last March.
Her 32-page suit was filed in Richmond federal court on Wednesday after she took her grievances through the formal complaint process at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last January. The EEOC on Dec. 4 issued a notice of her right to sue the firm.
Craddock’s allegations go into great detail to explain how LeClairRyan attorneys are compensated. Much of the case centers on so-called origination credits, a method of compensating attorneys who initially take on a case or help the firm win the ability to work a given case.
“Repeatedly, origination decisions were made in favor of male shareholders and against female shareholders,” the cases alleges. “Justification for such action has included stereotyped concerns over a male attorney’s need to support a family.”
LeClairRyan, through its chief legal officer Bruce Matson, submitted a prepared statement on Thursday in response to the Craddock case.
“LeClairRyan views the lawsuit as groundless,” the statement reads. “We are proud of the opportunities that women have at the firm, which has been noted by national organizations.”
It cites awards the firm has earned as a top law firm for gender diversity. Most recently, Law360 recognized LeClairRyan in the “Top 100 Best U.S. Law Firms for Female Attorneys.”
Read the lawsuit (PDF)
Craddock focuses part of the suit on a widely publicized case she worked in which the firm won a $77 million settlement for its client in 2013. From that, LeClairRyan earned a fee of more than $20 million, its largest fee recovery in its history, according to the suit. The case also generated $3.5 million in billable hours in the first two years of work, before the firm agreed to a contingency fee.
Craddock was co-lead counsel in that case but claims that she was denied origination credit in favor of male partner. She claims that male partner initially caused the firm to be fired by the client, but Craddock’s suit states that she coaxed the client to come back around.
“Craddock’s team’s efforts were key to propping the firm’s sagging financial condition in years that it struggled to make budget,” the suit says.
Beyond the discussion of those particular fees, Craddock’s lawsuit includes a lengthy section titled “LeClairRyan’s History of Male Dominated Decision-making and Gender Discrimination.”
It details alleged practices of compensation, promotion and other areas that Craddock says favor male attorneys.
“This is most apparent in its treatment of female attorneys who have attained shareholder status, who have been denied terms of employment enjoyed by the firm’s male shareholders,” the suit alleges. “In 2015, of the firm’s 157 shareholders, only 31, or 19.7 percent, were female.”
Craddock, 49, worked at the firm from 2003 until last March. She attained shareholder status at LeClair in 2012, although the lawsuit claims she was eligible for the promotion earlier. She also claims the firm wouldn’t waive her $100,000 shareholder buy-in fee, which they had done for some male shareholders.
The suit claims that the firm’s decisions have been controlled by a small group of male leaders, pointing to the fact that its top senior management positions are held by co-founder and chairman Gary LeClair, President and COO Michael Hern and current CEO David Freinberg.
The firm’s 14-member board includes three women, and its compensation committees have been predominately male, the suit claims.
The case describes compensation criteria as being “cloaked in secrecy” and involving “back-office deals favoring the firm’s male shareholders.”
Craddock claims most shareholders earn at least $300,000 a year in salary, almost double what she made. The suit goes on to claim the pay disparities between men and woman are “systemic and firm-wide.”
Craddock claims there is bias in women’s access to the firm’s supplemental retirement plan and in its internal referral service. She alleges that female working attorneys are billed at lower rates, requiring them to work more hours to reach the same billing goals, “with less time to market for her own client originations.”
It claims female attorneys needing time away from work for children, family and medical obligations are forced to “‘buy’ such ‘flexibility.’”
It states that male shareholders with such issues or slow years revenue-wise are “carried” and not pressured to take part-time status or any reduction in compensation.
When she opposed the “selective treatment,” Craddock alleges that the firm’s leadership retaliated against her.
Craddock ultimately submitted her resignation from the firm Feb. 2, 2015. The lawsuit describes her departure the following month as a “constructive discharge.”
She now has her own practice with her husband, John Craddock, also a former LeClairRyan attorney.
A message left at Craddock’s office was not returned by press time. She is represented in the case by Harris Butler and Paul Falabella of Richmond firm Butler Royals.
Butler said they are confident in the facts of the case.
“Obviously it’s a very detailed, factual complaint,” he said. “So I think the facts speak for themselves. And we look forward to putting on a case to a jury.”
She’s asking the court to award back pay and other lost benefits, as well as damages to be determined by a jury.
maybe this is just karma as most of the lawyers in Richmond decided how much money to take from Dixon family by prolonging case 3+ years