Thirty-two former partners at a big law firm will split $27.5 million on account of the firm’s age discrimination against them, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced today.
We mention the case not to vex friends at an excellent firm but because the news item quotes Judge Posner’s treatment of an interlocutory decision. In it, His Honor dispatches an argument about firm governance thus:
[The firm]’s contention that since the executive committee [of the firm] exercises its absolute power by virtue of delegation by the entire partnership in the partnership agreement, we should treat the entire partnership as if it rather than the executive committee were directing the firm. That would be like saying that if the people elect a person to be dictator for life, the government is a democracy rather than a dictatorship.
Touche.
Barry Barnett
