"Biglaw Partner Files Class Action Lawsuit Over ‘Male-Dominated Culture’", 28 Jul 2016

...Traci Ribeiro, an insurance partner in Sedgwick’s Chicago office...joined the firm in 2011 and was promoted to non-equity partner in 2012. According to her lawsuit filed..., she has now butted up against the firm’s glass ceiling. She believed that working hard and consistently bringing in the big bucks for the firm would mean her promotion to equity partner, but that wasn’t to be...[S]he has now filed a lawsuit seeking to certify a class of women at the firm who are paid less than their male counterparts...The suit...alleges that as one of the top three rainmakers at the firm Ribeiro was unable to crack into the ranks of equity partnership, but the unequal pay was also in the associate ranks, with women associates making up to $50,000 less than men...Ribeiro is still working at the firm and filed an EEOC [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] complaint in January, which is ongoing...Sedgwick denies the allegations in the suit:“We are confident there has been absolutely no discrimination or retaliation in the partner compensation process or otherwise, and we will defend the firm against these baseless allegations,” said [Sedgwick chair Michael] Healy.…“Sedgwick takes a fair, open and consensus-driven approach to partner compensation and other partnership issues, and we do not engage in or tolerate discriminatory or retaliatory conduct of any kind,” he said...