Howrey sued for racial discrimination
05 February 2010
Howrey's Brussels office is being sued by a former associate who claims she was fired the day after she lodged a complaint for racial discrimination.

Kamisha Menns alleges that she was regularly the target of racist behaviour from partners at the firm. She says that when she complained to the office's managing partner, Trevor Soames, he explained that staff had never worked for a black woman before and that they were jealous of her education and skills. She claims he added that she had to expect this sort of reaction as the "Flemish can be a bit racist". Which sounds like a whole new discrimination claim just waiting to happen.

Outside Howrey's Brussels office, yesterday

Menns says that she escalated her complaint to the firm's Diversity Committee in Washington, but was hauled in for a "review" with the Brussels partners. Which apparently consisted of her being told that her work wasn't up to scratch and that she wasn't performing as expected. When she complained about the way the review was handled, Soames apparently told her that this wasn't racism - and that he should know because he was Jewish.

It caps a pretty poor week for Howrey, which has just announced that it's making 94 members of staff (including 29 associates) redundant across its US offices.

A spokeswoman for the firm said, "Ms. Menns' claims of  improper and unprofessional behaviour especially those relating to discrimination and racism are without any factual basis or legal merit. Howrey LLP will vigorously defend itself, its lawyers and staff from these baseless claims".