Read entire article in AmLaw Daily
Chronologically, the 83 pages of filings–which the judge overseeing the EEOC litigation ordered Kelley Drye to make public on March 2 over the firm’s objections–begin with two letters from D’Ablemont clients expressing dismay that he will no longer be allowed to take the lead on their matters.
“While I understand your firm’s position on partner advancement, it creates a rather difficult situation for our company as we move forward,” says a letter (PDF) dated February 1, 2000, with the writer’s name redacted. “We have remained a Kelley Drye client largely in part to your personal involvement in the growth of our company from 1970 to the present day.”
***
How much did a Kelley Drye life partner earn? At the time the dispute was unfolding, according to excerpts of a Kelley Drye partnership agreement (PDF) made public Monday, attorneys who had achieved that status received a fixed annual income based on their average earnings in their three peak-earning years as equity partners. (The same agreement shows the firm protecting itself against becoming over committed to retired partners by capping life partner salaries at 4 percent of the firm’s partnership earnings in a given fiscal year and requiring that any individual life partner cannot be paid more than half the average partner earnings for the year.)
In a March 2000 letter (PDF), D’Ablemont asks that the firm increase the client development funds available to him from $10,000 to $20,000. He needs the money, he writes, to maintain his membership at theWestchester Country Club ($6,800 a year), The Metropolitan Club($1,900) and the club at Seabrook Island ($1,000).
Jumping ahead, the next letter (PDF) contained in the unsealed documents that management sent to D’Ablemont is dated July 2008. It involves a separate dispute between the two sides–whether or not legal services provided to D’Ablemont’s family should be paid for by the firm.
Related articles
- Settlement Conference Set in Age Bias Suit against Kelley Drye(blogs.wsj.com)
- Morning Docket: 03.08.12 (abovethelaw.com)
lennyesq 