A Manhattan jury has rejected a pregnancy discrimination and retaliation suit brought by former DLA Piper LLP associate Anisha Mehta, a seventh-year associate who alleged she was terminated to avoid the cost of her forthcoming parental leave. Mehta claimed the global firm’s decision was driven by bias amid a downturn. The firm countered that there was no pregnancy bias involved and that the senior associate was let go for poor performance, missing deadlines, and shoddy work. The two sides recently met in federal court in New York City in a case widely watched by the legal industry.
The case, presided over by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres, drew significant attention across BigLaw circles for its implications on law firm obligations toward expectant employees. In the end, the jury of seven women and one man sided with the defense, finding insufficient evidence that Mehta’s termination stemmed from discriminatory motives rather than legitimate performance concerns.
The decision boiled down to a “she said, she said” difference of opinion about the level of Mehta’s work. Was she indeed the victim of discrimination and retaliation by the firm, or was her termination for cause justified?
I’m Takin’ What They’re Givin’ ‘Cause I’m Workin’ for a Livin’
Mehta was hired by DLA Piper in October 2021 as a Senior Trademark Associate. Her boss was Gina Durham, the Tech Deputy Practice Group Leader of the firm’s Intellectual Property and Trademark (IPT) group. Mehta was fired a couple of weeks short of reaching her first complete year of employment. Why she was let go became the focal point of the ensuing legal battle.
In her complaint, Mehta claims Durham and DLA Piper terminated her employment in early October 2022, after she submitted her formal request for maternity leave while six months pregnant. Her leave was scheduled to begin in late January 2023. Refusing a $100,000 severance package offer, Mehta filed suit in June of that year. It accused the firm of four counts each of discrimination and retaliation, including violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the New York State Human Rights Law, and the Administrative Code of the City of New York.
Among other allegations, Mehta claimed she was treated differently by her employers because of her skin color and described an ongoing policy of discrimination against her. She also alleged that the firm’s “Leadership Alliance for Women” failed to represent her interests after her firing and did nothing when the firm reduced parental leave for non-birthing parents by six weeks in 2024. Mehta’s suit suggests one reason she was let go was a decrease in DLA Piper’s billable work.
DLA Piper’s stance was that Mehta was fired for poor performance and missing deadlines, claims made by Durham and two IPT partners at the firm, Keith Medansky and Tamar Duvdevan. Testimony claimed that Mehta missed an important deadline to attend a wedding for which she hadn’t secured permission and cited emails between her bosses that showed concern over her “subpar” work.
They Don’t Always Teach This Side of Practice in Law School
Represented by Wigdor LLP, Mehta sought to undermine DLA Piper's claims about her alleged incompetence. The suit noted that her base salary was bumped three times for a total increase of 21% during her first six months, and that she was given a year-end bonus for 2021 equal to 30% of her yearly pay. She also claimed that she never received a warning about her work or had any type of performance review.
DLA Piper partner and lead attorney Brett Ingerman insisted that Mehta's termination was due to her performance. He pointed out that during 2021 and 2022, the firm paid out over $6.5 million in leave benefits to 60 attorneys, questioning why it would deny Mehta what it had given to other litigators.
For law firms, the takeaway may be the need to document performance concerns and to be aware of terminations near major life events. Associates concerned about how pregnancy may affect their career arc, meanwhile, may be looking for a Plan B if they feel their prospects in BigLaw may be endangered by becoming pregnant, regardless of what the official handbook says.
Related Resources
- Places Where Discrimination Happens and When To Sue (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life)
- Family and Medical Leave (FindLaw’s Employment Law and Human Resources)
- Stanford Nudges Yale From Top Law School Spot in Latest Rankings (FindLaw’s Practice of Law)
