Partner Whose Behavior Features Prominently In Jones Day Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Is Out At The Firm
We still don't know exactly why he left...
Beyond whatever resolution the purported class-action gender discrimination lawsuit filed against Jones Day by six associates earlier this month reaches, it will have the lasting impact of giving the outsider a glimpse of what it’s like to work at the notoriously secretive law firm — at least from the perspective of the plaintiffs.
In the complaint, the two named plaintiffs, Nilab Rahyar Tolton and Andrea Mazingo, describe some of the “fraternity culture” they allegedly endured while at the firm. For both of these women, the behavior of partner Eric Landau features prominently into their grievances. The complaint alleges Tolton dealt with sexist comments from Landau:
Ms. Tolton’s superb performance did not, however, insulate her from sexist and sexualized conduct and commentary. For example, then-Partner Eric Landau, who was trying to recruit Ms. Tolton to his practice group, regularly commented on her clothes and high heels. After a deposition preparation session, he remarked that partners at his former firm kept asking him why his female associates all looked like volleyball players. Shortly after Ms. Tolton got married, however, Partner Landau seemed to abruptly lose interest in working with her.
The complaint goes on to allege Mazingo experienced similar behavior from Landau:
Ms. Mazingo was recruited into the Firm’s Securities Litigation and SEC Enforcement Practice Group. Partner Landau told her that he and Partner Roman Darmer were impressed with her obvious talent and work ethic. Once she joined the group, however, Partner Landau degraded Ms. Mazingo as a sex object, regularly subjecting her to sexist comments about her appearance, including her makeup, her hair, and her choice of footwear. For example, he continually pressed Ms. Mazingo to wear high heels, even though she assured him that she was more comfortable in flats. Partner Landau also frequently demanded that Ms. Mazingo account for why she looked “prettier than usual” on any given day.
And, according to the complaint, so did a secretary at the firm who felt forced to leave because of the behavior:
Ms. Mazingo was not the only female Jones Day employee about whose appearance Partner Landau commented. In front of the entire Irvine office, Partner Landau extolled how “banging” his secretary’s body looked in a bikini at an event that had been planned to honor that secretary. The secretary, who was also Ms. Mazingo’s secretary, complained to Jones Day, but, so far as Ms. Mazingo is aware, the Firm never took action against Partner Landau. As a direct result of Partner Landau’s actions and comments, the secretary was forced to resign, which particularly upset Ms. Mazingo because she had worked closely with the secretary since she had been a summer associate.
The complaint also alleges that the problem at Jones Day extends beyond the sexist comments, and that plaintiffs were denied “mentorship and professional attention”:
Partner Landau’s sexist and sexualized comments were not isolated incidents. Ms. Mazingo’s peers later tasked her with planning a “women’s luncheon”—a dispiriting ritual in which the office’s female attorneys (which included no homegrown partners) sought to mentor each other. To signify that it was Ms. Mazingo’s turn to plan the luncheon, she was forced to display a 4-foot tall cardboard cut-out of a lipstick tube in her office for months. When Partner Landau asked Ms. Mazingo why the lipstick cutout was in her office, she explained the backstory. He in turn responded, “Oh, I thought it was because you are a lipstick lawyer,” an allusion to the term “lipstick lesbian.”
While Partners Quintanilla and Landau repeatedly subjected Ms. Mazingo to unwanted sexual attention, they denied her mentorship and professional attention. Partner Landau and other male attorneys on his team, including Associate Rob Tiefenbrun and Of Counsel Travis Biffar, often left Ms. Mazingo in the office to work through lunch while they went to enjoy boys only lunches together. They excluded Ms. Mazingo even though she sat next to them and worked on most of the same matters.
By contrast, the female mentorship lunches—organized by the lawyer with the lipstick cutout in her office—were poor substitutes for the one-on-one professional attention that Biffar and Tiefenbrun received from Partner Landau. The female attorney lunches often focused on socializing and conversations about families and weddings.
Now it looks like Landau, who got all this unwanted attention in the complaint, is no longer at the firm. According to Law.com, he is out at the firm, but the timing and circumstances of his departure remain unclear:
The exact timing of his exit is uncertain. An email sent to his firm address prompted a return message stating that he is “no longer with Jones Day.” Data from ALM’s Legal Compass indicates the firm took down his bio and a related page Jan. 16, well before the complaint was filed, but it’s unclear whether he left the firm at that time or later.
Jones Day has not issued a statement about Landau’s exit from the firm. As you may recall, the firm’s statement about the lawsuit touted their statistical record of diversity and promised to fight the claims.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).
