In fending off a proposed $300 million class action gender bias suit, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, a national labor and employment firm, took the rare step this week of airing publicly its beef with a former equity partner, Tracy Warren.

In response to an inquiry by The American Lawyer about a spate of women partners leaving the firm, Ogletree issued a statement this week singling out Warren among those who had left this year and subsequently sought to join the gender bias litigation pending against the firm in a federal court in San Francisco.