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Deidre Dare triumphs against A&O in New York Supreme Court...
13 April 2012
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RollOnFriday's favourite lawyer turned dodgy poet Deidre Dare (aka Deidre Clark) has defeated her old firm Allen & Overy's attempts to get her wrongful termination and sexual discrimination claim thrown out of the New York courts.

Dare has been a persistent fly in A&O's ointment since 2009 when the firm discovered she was publishing tales of her sexual conquests, as well as dubious poetry and fruity self-portraits, on her website. For those interested in pictures of senior associates in their pants, it's deirdredare.com. When she refused to stop, she was sacked by A&O from its Moscow office.

Dare, who became something of a sensation in Moscow after using a newspaper column to convey her love of whipping, then sued her former firm for £3.5m, claiming unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination. But her case was chucked out of London on jurisdictional grounds. So she took her grievances, which now include "intentional infliction of emotional distress", "defamation" and "conspiracy", to the New York courts, ramping up the amount claimed to $35m.

A&O tried again to have Dare's case kicked out for lack of jurisdiction, but this time to no avail. A 12-page decision handed down by the New York Supreme Court rejected the firm's motion to dismiss the complaint, giving Dare the green light to continue to pursue A&O through the NY courts. And also to upload a bizarre little video of her dancing alone in her flat to Coldplay.


 
A spokesman for A&O said (somewhat wearily) "We have always been entirely satisfied that the termination of Ms Clark’s employment was justified and lawful.  We remain committed to defending Ms Clark’s claim vigorously". Whilst Dare told Above the Law "I won against Allen & Overy! Isn’t it amazing?"
 

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anonymous user
13/04/2012 09:14
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Genuinely terrifying.
anonymous user
13/04/2012 13:53
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Go Deidre
anonymous user
13/04/2012 16:07
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Not as terrifying as all those imbeciles on here who happen to get scared at the thought of taking on a massive firm that doesn't have any integrity, as is the case with most of those in the top 100. How on earth anyone could conceivably be recruited for the judiciary from the ranks of the top 100 law firms and expect the Rule of Law to maintain its effect is staggering....Go Deidre. Dance like a dervish. You are well out of there.....
anonymous user
13/04/2012 16:10
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It may be a good idea to settle this one.
What an amazing own goal. Keep it in London and settle for less that 3.5m.
Err ends up in New York and claim goes up to $35m.
What a great strategy, I don't think.
anonymous user
14/04/2012 05:13
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Depressing. It's not cool and the London liberals will snigger.

But this woman is shameless, silly and unfit to be a lawyer. Her private life is her's alone and the Lord knows mine has had its moments.

But as soon as a lawyer makes that racy private life public on the internet or another media he or she has lost professionalism and integrity.

I hope Allen & Overy continue to fight this case vigorously.
cobblers
15/04/2012 18:59
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"But as soon as a lawyer makes that racy private life public on the internet or another media he or she has lost professionalism and integrity."

Nonsense. The "professionalism" of a lawyer depends alone on the quality, clarity and timeliness of his or her advice. Integrity is a function of their propensity to put the interests of the client above their own and of honesty and administration of justice above all else.

I can only imagine you mean "but what if clients are upset by what they read?" If a client is prone to judge a lawyer by anything other than their abilities and their integrity - be this their silly dancing, their sex life, the way they dress or whatever - they are suffering from a serious decision-making bias which can only serve to damage their interests. What seems to me to be the height of unprofessionalism is to cravenly pander to and reinforce the adverse decision-making biases of a client. No? Or, like so many in this industry, did you mean "careerism" when you said "professionalism"?
anonymous user
15/04/2012 23:26
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"The "professionalism" of a lawyer depends alone on the quality, clarity and timeliness of his or her advice."

To most people there's more to professionalism than that - it also relates to how you conduct yourself in public. Whether you like it or not (and it's quite reasonable not to), people will form judgements of a lawyer based on how he or she behaves, including matters as trivial as his personal appearance and dress. Some things are considered "professional" and some aren't.

Typically, lawyers who are conservative and a bit dull are more likely to be considered "professional". It's fine if you're not like that - but you need to be bl00dy good at the legal stuff in order to make up for any prejudices against you that might result.
anonymous user
23/10/2012 13:09
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"Nonsense. The "professionalism" of a lawyer depends alone on the quality, clarity and timeliness of his or her advice. Integrity is a function of their propensity to put the interests of the client above their own and of honesty and administration of justice above all else."

In a perfect world where no one makes unncessary judgments, yes that would be enough but in the real world, your professionalism is based on much more than that.

Oh if only the world was so perfect. Everyone is equal, nepotism doesn't exist and meritocracy rules all.

But it's not. So clients would judge her. Sure it's her private life but someone whose that blase about the details about their private life may not have qualms about divulging private client information either. A leap? Probably but would that thought cross people's minds - maybe.
anonymous user
26/04/2013 18:47
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As lawyers, we are held to higher standards in many areas than are non-lawyers. So when one of us gets charged with a criminal offence not related to our practice, that fact is often reported in the news even if it's a charge that would draw no attention if committed by a lay person. Deal with it. As for Deirdre, she does seem to be a self-aggrandizing whack-job. The peril for lawyers who put their personal life out there is that potential clients run away - who needs a lawyer whose antics distract from their professional performance? And would you refer someone to her? I certainly wouldn't - she seems to have pretty poor judgment, so how could I trust her to exercise good judgment when it comes to my personal affairs?