Legal News

Kelley Drye Turns Up The Heat On Partner?s Age Bias Suit

By Nathan Koppel

Kelley Drye has fired back at partner Eugene D'Ablemont, who filed a federal age-bias suit against the firm in January.

D'Ablemont (who’s still at the firm) claimed that after he hit age 70, his compensation was slashed by the firm, which has a policy of de-equitizing partners upon their 70th birthday. (Click here for a copy of the complaint.)

Yesterday, Kelley Drye filed its answer, claiming that because D'Ablemont is a partner, he is an “employer,” not an “employee” entitled to protection under the federal age-discrimination statute.

Sidley Austin famously asserted this defense, to no avail, in an age discrimination suit filed by 32 former partners that was settled in 2007 for $27.5 million. (Here's a New York Law Journal piece on the Sidley settlement and click here for an NYLJ article on Kelley Drye's answer in the D’Ablemont matter.)

But Kelley Drye did not simply rest on a legal defense; it came out swinging, questioning D'Ablemont’s work ethic.

Over the last five years, according to the answer, the attorney's billable hours have ranged from 195.4 to 324.2 ─ "7 to 10 times less, annually, than the hours he billed prior to becoming a life partner." According to the answer, Kelley Drye also alleges D’Ablemont has a “history of objectionable behavior inconsistent with the expectations for a Kelley Drye partner.”

D’Ablemont did not reply to a request for comment.

Also, Kelley Dye claims that D'Ablemont "has demanded and received tens of thousands of dollars of free legal services from firm attorneys for himself and his relatives that he was not entitled to." The answer includes some other, pretty pointed claims.

The punching and counter-punching in this litigation, we imagine, has got to make D'Ablemont's employment at the firm kind of, well, tense.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 06, 2010 (boomark / email).