A lawsuit brought by a former Mayer Brown associate in which she claims the firm fired her because she is black can proceed, a North Carolina federal judge ruled Friday. At the same time, the judge cleared the way for counterclaims brought by Mayer Brown that accuse the associate of improperly taking confidential client documents in the months prior to her September 2008 departure from the firm.
U.S. district court judge Max Cogburn’s denial (PDF) of the dueling motions for summary judgment comes more than two and a half years after the former associate, Venus Yvette Springs, first took legal action against the firm. In an amended complaint (PDF) filed in November 2009 in Charlotte federal court, Springs, who is black, alleges that Mayer Brown routinely discriminated against her because of her race, and ultimately fired her for the same reason in May 2008.
