Legal Brief: Grab some popcorn for more on the Jones Day saga, DOJ opposes transgender worker’s discrimination claim & more

DISCRIMINATION LITIGATION: In more than 110 pages of briefs filed by the Department of Justice and a funeral home that fired a transgender woman after learning of her transition, the gender pronoun of the woman was not used once. The brief, which opposed her discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, referred to her by her name, Aimee Stephens, in every single instance. The Supreme Court will hear her case this fall [ABA Journal]. And don’t miss our piece on how the DOJ’s brief doesn’t hesitate to support the funeral home’s professional dress code requiring women to wear skirts [Boss Betty]. A former Schulte Roth employee is suing the firm, alleging that other workers made sexist, homophobic comments that the firm’s human resources department took no action on. The ex-facilities worker said he saw staff “engage in blatant and overt sexist and sexually harassing behavior” and make “disgusting comments about women” [New York Law Journal]. Houston lawyer Michelle Acosta is furious that the San Antonio attorney she sued for allegedly grabbing her backside in the lobby of a courthouse was offered a plea deal. Allan Manka — who was Acosta’s opposing counsel at the time of the alleged incident — first pleaded not guilty but later took the deal, which includes a $400 fine and a $200 donation to a nonprofit [Corporate Counsel].

JONES DAY, ALL DAY, AGAIN (AKA DISCRIMINATION LITIGATION, PART II): Wow, it didn’t take long for the gloves to come off in the parental leave bias case two married ex-associates filed against Jones Day. The firm put out a statement on social media saying the suit, which alleges that Jones Day’s parental leave policy is biased against men, is meritless and its allegations were “sensationalized.” Jones Day also requested more time to respond in court, to which the plaintiffs — Mark Savignac and Julia Sheketoff — said “nuh-uh.” A judge later ruled in the firm’s favor on that. The couple is also now claiming that the firm — which is facing a separate class action gender bias lawsuit — besmirched their reputations by posting the statement on social media. We’re going to need some popcorn for this one [American Lawyer]. And, get to know the two plaintiffs — both former Supreme Court clerks — who are behind the suit [American Lawyer].

SHE’S GOT MOVES: Former IBM cybersecurity lawyer Cari Robinson will be Revlon’s new general counsel. Robinson spent 19 years at IBM and in her new role will oversee the cosmetic brand’s global legal affairs, including intellectual property, governance, board of director issues, licensing, acquisitions and more [Corporate Counsel]. Nominees for Corporate Counsel and InsideCounsel’s 2019 Women, Influence & Power in Law Awards are in — are you on the list? In the in-house category, Michelle Fang — chief legal counsel for ride-sharing company Turo — is the only nominee for general counsel of the year, and former MetLife general counsel Sheila Murphy is set to get a lifetime achievement award [Corporate Counsel].

P.S.: Just 26.4 percent of Fortune 500 companies have women in general counsel roles. Much better than the 9 percent back in 2000, but still way low [Above the Law].