Biglaw

Biglaw Firm Didn't Take Summer Associates To A Strip Club, Yet Somehow The Story Is... Worse?

This wasn't some senior associates going rogue with an after party... the firm put this on the schedule!

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Group of people having fun at music concertGunderson Dettmer got a lot of online flack last week amid reports — backed by video! — that summer associates went on an outing to a strip club. The commentariat concluded that the images didn’t reflect a genuine strip club, but rather a nightclub that still employs scantily clad go-go dancers for “atmosphere.” Not that this makes much difference when we’re talking about professionalism and sexual harassment in the workplace.

But we thought this probably stemmed from some full-time attorneys taking the misguided initiative to drag summers to the club on the firm’s dime. Sources now tell us that not only was this an officially sanctioned trip — included on the firm’s calendar of summer events — but the firm knew all about the club’s vibe.

The location is the Peek Nightclub at Harrah’s in the Lake Tahoe area. But if you’re thinking the firm stumbled into booking the hotel bar without knowing what to expect, think again… the firm has hosted summers at this club dating back a few years now.

And while go-go dancers don’t necessarily convey a strip club aura, a tipster notes “The club has scantily clad go-go dancers, but attendees are encouraged to ‘throw them money.'” OK, see, that’s the problem right there. It’s not how naked the dancers are, it’s that the venue is encouraging rich people to throw scraps at women for breaching the business casual dress code. The tipster added that in prior years “senior attorneys in charge of the event went around and handed out $1 bills for this purpose to all of the summer associates and GD attendees.”

Does Gunderson even have an HR department?

Another unconfirmed tip alleges that the firm didn’t use its real name in booking the table, choosing instead to make the reservation in the name of a “School of the Deaf.”

Again, paging anyone in HR. Anyone at all.

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As noted in our original post, the firm no-offered the summer who lodged a complaint about this event. Which looks bad but probably wasn’t retaliatory because Gunderson is in the midst of delaying start dates, laying off folks, and indeed no-offered a number of summers.

When we reached out to the firm for comment on the original story — they never responded — we asked for confirmation on the no offers. We’ve since gotten numbers from tipsters. It seems six of the 13 Northern California summers did not get an offer, LA saw one of three no-offered, and we don’t have precise numbers for NYC but are told it’s “nearly 50 percent.”

Which adds a whole other dimension of impropriety to this story. As disturbing as it is to make an official outing of blowing summer pay throwing dollar bills at women and treating deaf folks as a punchline, it’s also unprofessional to be ordering club bottle service all night when the firm plans on laying people off and kicking half the attendees to the curb. A firm can’t sacrifice the task of wooing the next generation of attorneys because of a down year, but it can endeavor to curtail its most ostentatious consumption when it knows it’s not going to hire everybody.

Because these summers all gave up other opportunities to summer at Gunderson based on the perception that the firm could afford to make good on those gigs.

And if it doesn’t, then maybe the partners should spend more time looking for their own $1 tips instead of fronting like they can afford VIP treatment at the clubs.

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Earlier: Strip Club Summer Associate Outing?

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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