Law.com Blog Network

About The Bloggers

Blogroll

The Silver Lining in the Associate Morale Problem at Sullivan & Cromwell

Over at WSJ Law Blog, Peter Lattman reports on the problem of low associate morale at Sullivan & Cromwell. Lattman writes that associate morale has gotten so bad at S&C that the firm itself took note, acknowledging the problems in a 74-page PowerPoint presentation prepared last February. Among the issues: The firm experienced a 31 percent attrition rate (compared with 19 percent for other comparable firms), and associates described a lack of connection with the firm as well as instances of mistreatment by partners. 

In reading about Sullivan & Cromwell's morale problems, however, I couldn't help but think that there's a bit of a silver lining in all of this. As I described in this previous post, Sullivan & Cromwell has been sued by a gay associate, Aaron Charney, for discrimination based on sexual orientation. So what could be a better defense to Charney's claims than to argue that, "We didn't mistreat him because of his sexual orientation. We mistreat all of our associates, equally."   

Posted by Carolyn Elefant on January 24, 2007 at 07:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Comments

 
 
 
About ALM  |  About Law.com  |  Customer Support  |  Privacy Policy  |  Terms & Conditions