A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has given new life to one of the allegations in former Covington & Burling staff attorney Yolanda Young’s racial discrimination suit against the firm. In an opinion handed down Thursday, Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted part of Young’s motion to reconsider a previous order that dismissed several of Young’s allegations.
Citing the Supreme Court’s May 24 decision in Lewis v. City of Chicago, which found that a plaintiff need not prove deliberate discrimination in disparate impact claims, Walton determined that Young should be allowed to go forward with her adverse impact claim related to Covington’s job-assignment policy and its policy of not promoting staff attorneys to associate.
