City Law Firm Faces Sexism Allegations

Thu, 18 Feb 2010

City law firm Eversheds has been hit by accusations of sexism after a former senior lawyer exposed discrimination in the legal firm . 51 year old Stewart Shackleton resigned last month from his position as co-head of the international arbitration group, following a dispute over an email. Former Eversheds solicitor Mr Shackleton revealed that he had received an email from his colleague Stuart Dutson, asking how to question a female job applicant on her commitment in light of the fact she had recently given birth to a child.

Far from being an innocent enquiry about how to word the question, Mr Shackleton claims that the firm conducted a secret investigation into the woman’s background, while carrying out no such checks on male rivals. The investigation included making enquiries about the candidate at her previous place of work without her consent, according to Mr Shackleton.

Eversheds are adamant that there was no discrimination involved in the case, but has sent Mr Dutson on a training course. Mr Shackleton denies claims that the case was quickly resolved, and says the case remained unresolved when he left the firm three weeks ago. It is not known whether the female job applicant was applying for a solicitors position or otherwise.
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