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Firm failed to honor exit package after retaliating for bias complaint, former BigLaw partner alleges

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 01 May 2025 00:17:50 +0000

Law Firms

Firm failed to honor exit package after retaliating for bias complaint, former BigLaw partner alleges

April 29, 2025, 10:53 am CDT

A former salaried partner at Womble Bond Dickinson has filed a lawsuit alleging that the law firm cut her pay by half and offered her an exit package—which it didn’t honor—after she complained about a hostile work environment. (Photo from Shutterstock)

The April 25 suit filed by Wilka Toppins alleges race and gender discrimination, retaliation, misrepresentation and breach of contract.

Law360 has a story on the suit, filed in Harris County, Texas.

Toppins, who is Hispanic, said she accomplished “a great deal of origination and a large book of business” after she began work at the firm’s Houston office in November 2021, despite receiving inadequate support.

For a majority of her time at the firm, Toppins “had no associate help and no secretarial help,” the suit said. She was also subjected to a “very hostile work environment” by firm members and support staff in her corporate and securities practice group, according to the suit.

“The disparity in treatment included not providing sufficient support, attempting to take away plaintiff’s immigration clients and business, speaking to plaintiff in a derogatory and condescending manner, and failing to fulfill basic promises to her,” the suit said.

Toppins was the only Hispanic female in the entire firm at the time of her hiring, according to the suit.

After Toppins complained, the firm said it would investigate. Eventually, Toppins was told that the firm found that she was subjected to a hostile work environment, but it was not because she was a member of a protected class.

A pattern of retaliation followed, the suit said. Toppins’ pay was cut from $350,000 to $175,000, and she was told that if she did not like the new salary, the firm would be happy to “transition her off,” according to the suit.

After Toppins sought restoration of her pay, Womble Bond Dickinson offered her an exit package consisting of a 10% referral agreement, a contract position for immigration work and a severance agreement. Relying on the agreement, Toppins resigned in January 2024.

The firm then failed to honor the agreement under the exit package, the suit said.

A spokesperson for Womble Bond Dickinson did not immediately respond to the ABA Journal’s request for comment made in an email and a voicemail.

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Co-founder of defunct firm LeClairRyan may be able to avoid tax liability after 4th Circuit decision on his exit

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 02:46:54 +0000

Law Firms

Co-founder of defunct firm LeClairRyan may be able to avoid tax liability after 4th Circuit decision on his exit

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 12, 2025, 10:44 am CST

The co-founder and former CEO of the defunct law firm LeClairRyan may be able to avoid tax liability in connection with the firm’s collapse because of a ruling Friday by a federal appeals court. (Photo illustration by Brenan Sharp/ABA Journal)

The co-founder and former CEO of the defunct law firm LeClairRyan may be able to avoid tax liability in connection with the firm’s collapse because of a ruling Friday by a federal appeals court.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Richmond, Virginia, ruled for former partner Gary LeClair in a Feb. 7 opinion, Law360 reports.

The Legal Profession Blog published highlights.

The 4th Circuit ruled that LeClairRyan’s operating agreement didn’t bar LeClair from withdrawing as a partner after a vote to dissolve in July 2019. Bankruptcy and federal courts had reached the opposite conclusion, which made LeClair liable for some tax obligations because he was considered a partner on the day that the firm filed for bankruptcy in September 2019.

The firm had included LeClair on a list of equity holders filed with the bankruptcy court. LeClair wanted to amend the list to remove his name.

The 4th Circuit remanded for a determination.

“We leave it to the bankruptcy court on remand to determine whether any equitable considerations warrant denial of the motion to amend despite LeClair’s correct interpretation of the operating agreement,” the appeals court said.

LeClairRyan bankruptcy trustee targets firm co-founder, compares firm to movie ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’

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Steve Bannon cites law Trump signed in hopes of prison exit

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 16:23:10 +0000

Steve Bannon speaks outside Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., in July 2024 as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., left, listens (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson).

One day after federal prosecutors said his arguments in favor of an early prison exit were “footless,” former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is trying to “take advantage” of the First Step Act, criminal justice reform signed into law and “championed” by then President Donald Trump, in a bid for some leniency on his punishment for the “non-violent” offense of stonewalling the Jan. 6 Committee.

The Friday reply from Bannon, which comes weeks after he asked U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols to reimpose bail pending appeal based on “significant events,” reiterated that the federal inmate’s contempt of Congress stint behind bars should end before Election Day.

But in the event that Nichols doesn’t want to go that far, Bannon alternatively proposed a “brief period of supervised release, in conjunction with a brief sentence reduction if necessary,” so he “could take advantage of First Step Act earned-time credits available to nearly every other inmate serving time for non-violent offenses.”

“Having to wait thirty days for the BOP to refuse to seek such relief, as the government insists here, would force Mr. Bannon to wait for nearly the entirety of the remainder of his sentence—time that he could otherwise serve on supervised release under the First Step Act,” the reply said. “Having to wait to exhaust BOP remedies would thus effectively preclude Mr. Bannon from being able to obtain any meaningful relief from this Court.”

Bannon was convicted by a jury in July 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena for documents and a deposition, and he was subsequently sentenced to four months in prison. At first, Nichols allowed Bannon to remain free as he appealed his sentence and conviction. When the Supreme Court declined to stop Bannon’s incarceration, however, Bannon spoke outside of prison walls in Connecticut on July 1 and declared, “I’m proud to go to prison.”

On Thursday, federal prosecutors called the bail or supervised release asks baseless.

“The defendant shows no basis for the Court to reverse its earlier ruling lifting the stay of his sentence, a ruling that both the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court have effectively endorsed,” prosecutors said. “He also fails to justify modifying his sentence to impose a period of supervised release.”

Prosecutors, writing that Bannon “fails to overcome the presumption of detention pending appeal” and provided Nichols no reason to disturb his prior ruling based on the hope that maybe the whole U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will rehear Bannon’s case.

“There is no basis to conclude from the pendency of the defendant’s rehearing petition that it is ‘very likely’ the D. C. Circuit will either grant rehearing en banc or deny rehearing with a dissent,” the government said. “The defendant shows no basis to assume that the D.C. Circuit is not simply dealing with a heavy workload after a summer recess and certainly offers no support for his speculation that he will receive rehearing en banc.”

“At bottom, the defendant’s attempt to ‘read tea leaves’ does not establish any basis for the Court to release a defendant whom this Court, the D.C. Circuit, and the Supreme Court have ruled must be detained,” prosecutors added.

Bureau of Prison records show that Bannon, 70, is slated to be released from FCI Danbury on Oct. 29.

Colin Kalmbacher and Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.

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