Aaron Charney Lands on His Feet....

Last year, we reported extensively on the lawsuit that Aaron Charney, formerly an associate attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell, had filed against that law firm, charging that he had been made the victim of sexual harassment and discrimination because he was gay.  The lawsuit caused much discussion in New York legal circles, including speculation that regardless of how the lawsuit turned out, Charney would never again be able to find work at a major New York law firm.

It turns out the speculation was incorrect.  Charney and Sullivan & Cromwell came to a settlement last fall, after preliminary rulings by the trial judge made clear that at least some aspects of the case were going to go through discovery and trial.  Given Charney's allegations and deposition statements concerning his treatment at Sullivan and by Sullivan attorneys during the initial stages of the lawsuit, it was clearly in Sullivan's interest to settle rather than to air these matters and have their partners examined under oath in open court, so the settlement -- for an undisclosed amount -- was not a super surprise.

What is a super surprise is the news broken on July 28 by David Lat on his blog abovethelaw.com that Mr. Charney will be joining the New York mergers & acquisitions practice of the international London-based firm Clifford Chance in September.  Lat received a tip to this effect from an attorney at Clifford Chance, contacted the firm for verification, and received a statement confirming the story.  Charney will be slotted into the office as a fifth-year associate.  According to the firm's website, it has offices in 28 countries and employs more than 3,000 "legal advisors" -- so Charney is definitely back in the BigLaw game feet first.

The New York Law Journal, scooped on the story by Lat, published an "In Brief" item on the top of page one this morning, commenting, "Mr. Charney's ability to land another law firm position after being involved in such a high-profile suit against his former firm suggests such litigation may no longer be career suicide, provided the lawyer has desirable skills.  Clifford Chance and other major London firms have been especially eager to boost their New York M&A capabilities."

Lat put a less charitable spin on things, speculating that hiring Charney was a way to revive Clifford's reputation in gay legal circles after the firm had itself been the target of a lawsuit by a gay partner in the London office last year. . . .

To us, the interesting thing is that big firms now are eager to seek out openly-gay attorneys, and may actually care about their reputation in the LGBT legal community, having accepted that sexual orientation is irrelevant to professional credentials in a legal market where there remains, even in these shaky economic times, competition for top legal talent.