In a corporate landscape where sexual-harassment complaints are being taken more seriously, law firms stand out—but not in a way you might imagine.
As The Wall Street Journal reports, while rainmakers in other fields lose jobs for bad behavior, lawyers often receive second and third chances, according to dozens of lawyers, legal recruiters, consultants and leaders at some of the country’s largest firms who spoke to the newspaper.
Firms’ sole assets are lawyers and their client relationships. As demand for work from the biggest law firms has softened since the financial crisis, poaching top partners has become one of few ways to boost revenue.
Many firms ask about prior complaints in new-hire questionnaires but do nothing to vet the answers, lawyers say. Firms rarely ask partners for references at their old firm, for fear of alerting competitors a star lawyer is in play.
“It can be particularly difficult to find out about misconduct in the legal industry,” says Christine Chung, a partner at New York-based firm Selendy & Gay who has been involved with hiring lateral partners from big law firms for almost a decade. “If the person left the old firm for a bad reason, you may not figure it out.”
While firms often have human-resources departments and antiharassment policies, partners—more than 75% of whom are male across the industry—control the workflow and career development of those beneath them.
“Too often, those doing the harassing are in positions of power, making it unlikely that the harassment will ever be reported,” says Jamie Quient, who spent a year as president of a San Diego women’s bar association campaigning against harassment at law firms.
That said, many firms strive to dole out fair punishments for misbehavior, and partners have had careers derailed because of harassment allegations.
