Welcome back to Opening Argument, a reported column where I dig into interesting disputes in high-profile cases, and unpack issues that are dividing appellate courts. On deck today: a look the discovery win Jones Day got in the fight over its alleged discriminatory parental leave policy.
Imagine being ordered by a court to throw your former co-workers under the bus.
That’s potentially what Mark Savignac and Julia Sheketoff are going to have to do in their civil rights lawsuit against their former employer Jones Day if any other attorneys at the firm encouraged or helped them sue the company. The questions Jones Day eventually chooses to ask those attorneys, if they are deposed, creates tricky questions about client confidentiality. Those attorneys also risk their employer’s ire if outed.
A federal judge late last month told the couple they had to comply with the law firm’s discovery request for the names of anyone they consulted with about Jones Day’s policies before Savignac complained in a January 2019 email that the company’s parental leave policy unlawfully discriminates against men.
“The order could pose a significant risk to some Jones Day attorneys if they’re on the list,” said Peter Romer-Friedman, a principal at Gupta Wessler PLLC, who heads the firm’s civil rights and class actions practice.
Savignac and Sheketoff have been in ongoing litigation with the firm since August 2019. The couple alleges Jones Day fired Savignac in retaliation three days after he...
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