Patent Law

IP Soap Opera: Time to Tune Up Your Harassment Policies

By Les Weinstein, Michael Young, John Leo Wagner, Eric van Ginkel, and Victoria Pynchon

Thanks to the Amlaw Daily (courtesy of writer Nate Raymond) for bringing us this shocking news -- Kasowitz Benson: Former IP Head Harassed 12 Women

The former head of intellectual property at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman sexually harassed at least 12 female employees at the firm--including making advances on seven of them in one night--before he was fired in December, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by the firm.

The complaint, filed in New York state court, is the first detailed account explaining why Kasowitz Benson says it fired Jeremy Pitcock, an IP litigator who joined from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in 2006. Pitcock denies sexually harassing anyone, let alone having engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment.

When you have a dozen women willing to jeopardize their careers (more on that later) to bring down a powerful law firm partner, my innocent-until-proven-guilty default flags.

(pictured:  Bill Clinton, our former Sex-Addict-in-Chief, with the lovely Sheryl Crow -- think he didn't hit on her?)

What does this have to do with IP ADR?  A lot.  These are the human frailties -- some enlarged to actionable claims leading to disgraced departures -- for which the appropriate alternative dispute resolution technique is prevention.  Counseling.  Apology.  Forgiveness.  Reconciliation.

As a woman who was an early entry into the profession, I haven't had a lot of sympathy for my younger cohorts.  I should do better in this regard but my own attitudes remind me that some old ideas are really really hard to change.  Like the idea that women can take care of themselves.   The idea that ridicule is the strongest antidote to unwanted attention (I have a great story about this but can't "print" it in a "family" blog).  The recollection, from an era of Queen-Bee-Syndrome, of the solidarity and sisterhood we shared around the issue of our male superiors' unwanted carnal attentions.  

And I have been known to say that the power balance between a 25 year old woman and a 45 year old man is heavily weighted in favor of the woman. 

Unfortunately, senior men "hitting" on younger women will always be with us.  It's the degree of ineptitude that generates the type of news you see here.  Twelve women?  That's not only a management problem (HR is asleep at the wheel).  It's an addiction problem.  If caught early enough, the offender can be channeled into a treatment program rather than ejected from the firm.  In the case of a senior IP litigator, that ejection can cost the firm millions to tens of millions of dollars.

So here are some resources that everyone -- including those who are most protected against their own bad behavior -- senior IP litigation or transactional rainmakers -- can use to nip this sort of thing in the bud.

For a quick all-firm tune-up, call Julie Yanow at EquiLaw. 

It's not just that Julie is one of my best friends.  It's that her common sensical training courses are fun and hilarious because that's just who she is. 

Even I'd pay to see her speak! 

And she most assuredly does not share my pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps, buck-up, take it like a . . . . man? attitude toward sexual harassment. 

See her Training page here. 

Here are 12 Questions from Sex Addicts Anonymous for self-diagnosis in the privacy of your room.  Your attendance at SAA meetings is something you're allowed to keep secret until you decide (if ever) that you want to share this life-transforming experience with others.  (though not a member, I have seen thousands of happy people transformed by the principles used in SAA, all of which are borrowed from the original 12-step AA program). 

See also the Sex and Love Addicts Home Page -- an unusually well-designed site for a 12-step program)

For further reading, check out:

Sex Addiction Treatment and Recovery from the Dual Diagnosis Blog

What I Wish I'd Know About Sex Addiction Twenty Years Ago 

Definition of Sexual Harassment from the About.com Human Resources Blog.

This dated but still relevant article from Fortune Magazine - Addicted to Sex A PRIMAL PROBLEM EMERGES FROM THE SHADOWS IN A NEW--AND DANGEROUS--CORPORATE ENVIRONMENT

Addicted to Love:  Sex, Love and Compulsion here.

Sexual Compulsivity:  The Secret Addiction (this is an link to the book with an interview with an nationally recognized expert at the Missouri State Bar site)

Here's a recommended reading list provided by SexHelp.com

The SLAA Journal (if you read this and "hear" your own story being told, it's time to venture out of your secret space to meet up with others who share your challenges and are successfully meeting them).

Finally, a little humor from the HR Legal Source (those offended by stuff that's funny, please skip this video) : 

Original Link : GE Sexual Harassment video Uploaded by: xRacer

HR people?  Any additional resources you'd suggest?

Full post as published by IP ADR Blog on July 08, 2008 (boomark / email).