On Monday the partnership of Philadelphia's Wolf Block voted to dissolve the 106-year-old firm and relocate as many of its 300 lawyers as possible.

It was a bittersweet day for one former firm associate, Nancy O'Mara Ezold, who 20 years earlier was told that she would not make partner at the firm then known as Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen.

That January 1989 decision led Ezold to file the first sex discrimination suit that went to trial against a law firm for denial of partnership.

The ensuing four-year trial caused a furor over the disclosure of firm personnel evaluation forms and the revelation of tensions between German-Jewish and Irish Catholic partners. (The American Lawyer's Loren Feldman wrote a November 1990 feature story .pdf about the 13-day bench trial.)

Ezold ultimately lost on appeal, but several litigators left in the nearly nineties for rival Philadelphia firms, and Wolf Block was severely weakened.

The Am Law Daily caught up with Ezold, the founding partner of a five-lawyer suburban Philadelphia-based employment firm bearing her name, to discuss Wolf Block's dissolution, how firms might start to change the way they do business and the challenges faced by women lawyers.

Q: Hello Nancy, thanks so much for taking the time today. So, what was your reaction when you heard about Wolf Block's demise?

A: Being a human being and an employment attorney, I don't like to see anyone lose their jobs. It's certainly going to be very difficult for some of the receptionists, secretaries, messengers, paralegals and associates. I assume most of the partners will find other firms to go to. But at the same time it's hard not to feel that justice was finally done. Because it wasn't done by the 3rd Circuit.

Q: Did anyone call you yesterday after they heard the news about Wolf Block?

A: I've had a flurry of phone calls and e-mails from people in all walks of life -- those who supported me back then and those I don't even know. But that's always been the case ever since I brought the suit. There were a lot of people I didn't know who had feelings about Wolf Block and my case.

Q: How do you compare what you went through 20 years ago with what young female associates are experiencing today? Have things changed?

A: They've certainly changed, in part because of sheer numbers. The more women that you have in the legal field, it's just compelling that there are going to be changes. But I certainly don't think they accurately reflect the numbers that have been coming into the field by a long shot. I've even had Wolf Block people contact me for advice and counsel over the years. It's just very, very difficult out there for women.

Let me go back to Wolf Block for a second. I can't speak for the firm's other offices because I don't know those people, but I looked at the firm's Philadelphia office and there is not a single woman who was a partner or associate at Wolf Block in Philadelphia when I was there who remains with the firm.

Q: Were they forced out?

A: Something happens to them. Attorney after attorney that were there when I was there and who are still there -- they're all men. Some firms certainly have understood and accepted the quality and intellect of female attorneys and other firms like Wolf Block have not. The culture that resulted in my case was never repudiated by the firm. And therein lies the problem.

Q: Do you take cases by associates who feel their firms have discriminated against them?

A: Yes. We're a broad-based employment discrimination firm that deals with all forms of discrimination. And some of our clients are female associate at firms.

Q: In light of what was revealed at trial during your case against Wolf Block, is it safe to say that a lot of those firms choose to settle these cases out of court?

A: I'd say that's the case whether it's a law firm or any other employer. If you've marshaled the evidence to show that there is evidence of discrimination, a lot of employers, after both sides have looked at that evidence, are willing to talk. And law firms are no different.

Q: The legal industry is going through changes, with the layoffs and firm dissolutions. Do you think where at this point where firms will have to change the way they're structured?

A: One of the things I see is a decrease in the number of equity partners. If you look at a letterhead today, you still cannot tell who is and who isn't an equity partner. I had a conversation with a woman partner at a big firm the other day and she said to me, 'If you think I'm really a partner, you are sadly mistaken.' She said she was merely an employee who was given the title 'partner' so she could charge partner rates.

The second problem is that if you look at these non-equity partners, a whole lot more are women than men. And you limit the number of distributions you have to make at the end of the year by limiting the number of equity partners.

Q: Did your interest in employment law develop after your case against Wolf Block?

A: Actually the first firm I ever worked for was a labor firm. The second firm I worked for I was involved in employment discrimination cases on the plaintiffs side. But at Wolf Block, which like most big firms represents employees, I was not in their labor and employment department. Once the case was over, however, the publicity was so great that people from all over the country were calling me and asking me to represent them. So while it wasn't something that I intended to focus on, it just was there.

Q: Would you encourage young lawyers today to start their own firms?

A: First of all I wouldn't practice by myself. Even if it's only one other person, it's great to have someone to bounce ideas off of, get opinions, or have someone take a look at a case or issue. The second-most important thing is making sure you can bring in enough business to survive. If you think you can, I highly recommend it because you have flexibility. You can take the cases that you want without someone else telling you what case you're going to take or work on. But it's not for everybody -- you've got to have the mentality to roll with the punches, especially the financial ones.

Q: What do you say to young folks who are considering law school?

A: I'd probably tell them to go to vet school. But I like the law and I even liked law school, believe it or not. The thing about law school is it opens up so many other doors, whether it's politics, human resources or writing. There are a lot of things you can do with a legal background. So if you like it, I wouldn't be deterred by the economy today.

All interviews are condensed and edited for grammar and style.

This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on AmericanLawyer.com.