Another case of interest to education law watchers:
A lot of legal practice is subject to time deadlines and stress. Unless she’s going into drafting wills and trusts or something similar, time pressures and stress are part of the job.
I don’t want to hire a lawyer w anxiety/cognitive issues who is going to bill me hourly.
“As a matter of policy, Ropes and Gray terminates all associates who fail the bar examination twice…”
She did not disclose her disability to the employer because she did not believe it was relevant…
Hmmm… I feel sorry for the young lady, but she is facing an uphill battle IMO here in my non-layer opininion.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/06/16/harvard-grad-sues-over-failed-bar-exam/
She passed the bar exam on her 3rd sitting, but says her career is already damaged.
“She passed the bar exam on her 3rd sitting, but says her career is already damaged.”
No lawyer is going to question that…her career is seriously and permanently damaged by the repeated failure. The issue, in my view, is who is responsible for that.
Did she get accommodations the 3rd time?
Anyone remember this?? http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lsac_to_pay_7.73m_change_lsat_policies_in_settlement_of_ada_suit
Yes – she got double time on the third try, when she passed. That would presumably be four days instead of the usual two.
What’s next? Accommodations for airline pilots to get their commercial certification?
The thing is, if she REALLY could have had a successful career at Ropes & Gray – which I HIGHLY, HIGHLY doubt – then arguably the law firm’s hiring policy is discriminatory as applied against her. If there is discrimination, that’s where it is (but I don’t think there was any, since the very cognitive abilities that she lacks are the essential qualities for the job as a big firm associate).
But even if she could prove the elements of her claim, under California law, at least, she’d never be able to get significant damages based on the supposed loss of a lucrative law career. In order to get lost profits as damages under California law, you have to have some sort of track record. A start-up that was tortiously prevented from getting off the ground can’t get damages for the billions of dollars it supposedly would have made but for the tort because the damages are too speculative in the absence of a track record. The same principle should apply here (assuming the law is the same under the jurisdiction in question).
Anyway, that’s just my off the cuff thought based on knowing essentially nothing about the facts of the case or the law that would apply here. So take the thoughts with a grain of salt!
For your reading pleasure-- one of the litigants (who was legally blind) against LSAC asked for the following in several states, attempting to take the LSAC)
Prior to this I had not heard of LSAC offering a yoga mat as an accommodation http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1551204.html
The list of places that are less forgiving of problems dealing with stress and cognitive deficits than Big Law NY is amazingly small.
The ADA requires “reasonable” accommodation, not to keep accommodating until the applicant is successful. Unless she has some very good evidence backing her claim, I am skeptical over her chances at recovery. Also, as I recall Ropes is an attrition based firm, so it’s hard to see how she would prove much in the way of damages even on that, actually provable aspect.
Although the ADA is well intentioned it has the unfortunate effect of negating the idea that some people are simply not up to a task.
If I am too slow mentally to do a time based, cognitive task then I am simply unable to do it regardless of the reason. There is no “reasonable accommodation” for my condition other than bending time which won’t happen. Socially promoting people into competitive jobs is not necessarily kind in the end. I see this all the time with so-called vocational rehabilitation. People with psychiatric issues seem to get unending loans with hopes that they get education/training for a job. I see, every day, people who engage in this fantasy for years on end yet they have no plausible chance of success. They end up crushed and in debt. At least with a law degree, one can occupy time with lawsuits.
“Ropes is an attrition based firm, so it’s hard to see how she would prove much in the way of damages even on that, actually provable aspect.”
While that’s true, she doesn’t have to stay there and make partner to get a great career launch out of it. Getting attritioned out after a couple of years looks way different on a resume than failing the bar and getting fired.
I think she’s got a pretty good argument that if the bar gave her double time on the third try, then it is admitting that she qualifies to take the test in that manner, and she should have had access to it the first time.
The more interesting problem, as I see it, is whether the bar should be making a different argument on future ADA questions: that the exam is not merely a test of legal knowledge, but a test of time management and stress management. (IMHO, this is the only real value of the exam – it doesn’t measure the hard knowledge or skills lawyers need very well.) If you’re testing people on time management, then extra time may not be a reasonable accommodation absent a disability that necessitates an oral test.
Professional licensure exams often take into account candidate qualities besides subject mastery. For example, state bars require a character & fitness evaluation. Tests of multitasking, concentration, etc. strike me as equally defensible and probably wise.
“Unless she’s going into drafting wills and trusts or something similar”
If you have clients and a boss, then you have deadlines and pressure. Some fields are worse than others, but they’re all pretty bad.
I am suing Major League Baseball. I just need a few accommodations and I would be an all-star. First, need the pitchers to throw a little…or really a lot…slower. And no curves or sliders. Underhand would be helpful. How about putting the ball on a tee? And 90 feet is a little far for bases when you run as slow as I do. 4 bases is probably too many too so if I make it to second base, I score would be good. And they should have to throw the ball to second base and then to first base before I am out. And thinking about it, maybe throw it out to the left fielder and then to second…back to home and then to first. I think that should work.
In the field, hitters should hit the ball to me because my range isn’t that good. But not too hard because my reaction time isn’t that good.
And lets not begin to talk about my suit against the NBA. As a 6’2 guy who isn’t fast, can’t jump very high and has a somewhat less than horrible shot unguarded, I think I have a lot of potential with the right accommodations.
And yet she believes she cold have had a successful career??? Based on that description, I believe this woman is completely unqualified for any type of legal work other than, perhaps, paralegal-type research where she would be paid by the assignment rather than hourly. It’s tragic that she suffered these injuries, but equally tragic that no one told her “no” a long, long, time ago. The coddling she received along the way was only damaging to her in the end. We so often hear kids told “you can be anything you want to be,” and while that’s a nice way to motivate a third grader, it is in no way the truth. Mere determination is not enough.
How’d she get hired at Ropes?
And is this the same Tamara Wyche, H Law '13, whose LinkedIn shows working at Cantor Fitzgerald, in mergers & acquisitions, since April 2015?
All you really need to get a biglaw job coming out of HLS is a pulse and basic interview function. If you want a super elite firm, or a wide array of firms to choose from, then you may need more. But it really doesn’t take much to get the summer associate position or the offer that follows.
Now, it’s possible that this candidate had a lot more to offer, but we don’t know that based on the fact that she was hired.