Introduction and summary

       Welcome and thank you for visiting. I am a former attorney who used to work at O'Melveny & Myers. I was so surprised by what I saw there that I started this website. It's one of those acts that takes little time, but might do some good by shining a light. Below is a summary of a few posts. I hope you find them informative.

       1. According to the New York Times, O'Melveny used violent imagery to threaten a sexual abuse victim into silence, as her assailant watched. This led to an additional decade of sexual abuse by the assailant. The attorney who reportedly threatened the young woman is chair of the firm's Trial Practice Committee.

       2. The firm has a history of conducting reportedly sham "independent investigations." If O'Melveny conducts such an investigation at your organization, expect them to reach the conclusion desired by the person who hired them. For example, see this story in Corporate Counsel accusing O'Melveny partner Adam Karr of conducting a sham investigation of sexual abuse at Lions Gate. A saint of a woman returned over a million dollars to break her confidentiality agreement and reveal that information. Or see this story about a woman who learned that her alleged sexual assaulter's personal lawyer (O'Melveny) had been hired to "independently investigate" whether he assaulted her. Or see this story about an O'Melveny alumnus who was arrested by the FBI, as he tried to negotiate an independent investigation retainer. 

       3. One of O'Melveny's practice group leaders reportedly lied to a federal court. Once caught in that lie by the discovery of documents, he gave a radio interview criticizing The Geneva Convention. This person manages their Financial Services Practice Group.

       4. The firm has a disconcertingly money-obsessed culture, which they called "eat what you kill." For example, query whether they needlessly dragged out an alleged rape victim's misery to maximize partner profits, and then bragged about the money they made off of her in a press release (links one and two). Or query whether they were the only defense firm to drag out an opioid crisis case, damaging their client's reputation and likely resulting in avoidable deaths, to maximize partner profits (links one, two, three and four). 

       5. On the topic of money, an O'Melveny attorney once told me they can "monetize" government positions. 

       6. O'Melveny contrives claims to intimidate people. For example, after I published this website, they accused me of the federal crime of stealing confidential information – without any digital evidence that I even accessed the data they accused me of taking. When they realized that their baseless accusation wasn't going to scare me, they threatened me with a defamation lawsuit. But when I asked them to identify a specific defamatory statement so that I could retract it, they refused to do so.

       7. O'Melveny was at the forefront of the document used to silence victims -- the mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure agreement. Although three federal courts told O'Melveny that this document was "unconscionable" (cases one, two and three) -- O’Melveny continued to force its employees to sign it until 2018, when law students pressured law firms to abandon this practice. 

       8. The firm retaliates against employees who complain about problematic practices. They even reportedly launched a "witch hunt" to find an employee who complained anonymously. 

       9. The inspector general chided an O'Melveny alumnus for threatening scientists in a way that had "life and death consequences."

       10. O'Melveny claims to support diversity by following the Mansfield Rule, but their track record suggests otherwise. O'Melveny even chose not to stop a client's racist comments about a judge.

       11. The firm consistently grades itself at the top-end, usually the top three, in Vault's self-graded rankings. But with some of the rankings, you may be able to catch them in the act. (Links one, two, three and four). For example, O'Melveny has repeatedly graded itself as the number one firm in the world for hours. But if you gathered data on hours from all firms, you may be able to prove that it's giving itself a higher ranking than it deserves. In fact, in one of the years that O'Melveny graded itself as the best firm for hours, two of Vault's six take-aways for O'Melveny criticized its "unpredictab[le]" and "long hours." If you did prove this, it wouldn't be as serious as the other items in this list, but it may reflect a fundamentally dishonest culture -- one that will opportunistically lie about things great and small.

       12. O'Melveny tries to manipulate journalists into advertising for the firm. Here is their manager of public relations explaining how to do this on the show, "Law firm marketing catalyst." Some of the resulting articles are provably false.

       13. The firm was even lambasted in the press for trying to remove truthful information from Wikipedia, of all things.

       If you think this website is unusual, please note that I'm not the first person to do this. The late Judge Stephen Reinhardt expressed his public disgust with things he saw at O'Melveny over thirty years ago. A legal recruiter, whose livelihood depends on ingratiating himself to law firms, publicly shared a shocking story from O'Melveny. An O'Melveny attorney used twitter to talk about everything they lost while working there. And there's more about this firm that I haven't said, because I do not have hard evidence and don't want to be caught in a "he said, she said" defamation case (see #6 above). I'm restricted to writing about things that made it into the news, which may be the tip of the iceberg.

       I hope this information helps you. Please contact me at tips@omelvenymyersethics.org if you have something to add (and please feel free to use anonymous encrypted email providers, like proton mail.) I can also call you if you would prefer to talk via phone.
   Brad Butwin, Dan Petrocelli, Brian Boyle, Adam Karr, omm, omelveny, Christopher Rieck, Brandon Jacobsen

O'Melveny lawyer reportedly helped craft the Trump administration's COVID response

       Law is a dishonest field. I know that's a harsh thing to say about a profession, so please let me explain by looking at what lawyers do on a case. First, they sift through the evidence and categorize it into two buckets: evidence that helps their client and evidence that hurts. Then they do the same thing with laws; they find the relevant statutes, precedents and policies and then split them into two buckets: those that help their client and those that hurt. Finally, they use rhetorical techniques to try and hypnotize a judge or jury into appreciating the facts and laws that help their client, and diminishing those that hurt their client. 

A dark profession

        This week, Former Attorney General Eric Holder said he was “disturbed” that other lawyers would criticize his friend Neal Katyal for making what some think are "extreme" arguments in support of child slavery. Mr. Holder states that the justice system "cannot function at its best" if Mr. Katyal is criticized for defending his client in court, because if lawyers can't defend clients then there is no due process. That certainly makes perfect sense.

Hoping a client gets sued

       One of the most interesting things I saw in my stint in the legal profession was how gleeful partners became when a client was sued or investigated. Normally, people are happy if something good happens to their client, like an agent who learns that a client got a big acting role. But these partners were happy when something awful happened to a client. They couldn't contain their joy as they thought of staffing attorneys on the matter, billing, and growing their partner distributions.

Favoring the children of prominent people

        A few weeks ago I took a trip to the beach. It was depressing near the Santa Monica pier, which has turned into a homeless enclave. Here’s a man sleeping, here’s another man sleeping, and here’s one folding up his tent. The expressions on their faces were heartbreaking, a mix of bewilderment, anger and worry. It’s a testament to the heartlessness of the city’s privileged leadership. I could just see Mayor Eric Garcetti talking to one of the homeless: 

Sorry dude, you were born to the wrong person. My dad's Gil Garcetti. He was politically connected, so I get to be mayor. Your parents were nobodies, so you’re a bum. You never heard of my dad Gil? How dare you? He rose to prominence by hogging the camera after his office botched the O.J. Simpson murder trial. So I live like a king, and you live like this.

Who am I kidding; Mr. Garcetti would never lower himself to talk to a homeless person. He reportedly wastes $30 million of city funds each year to harass the homeless, and he compared them to horseshit.

Old tale; new tactics, victims and weapons

       When I was in law school, a Chinese LL.M. student introduced me to the Opium Wars. Back the 1700s and 1800s, the British empire made a fortune by selling opium to Chinese. Seeing all the death and waste it caused, a succession of Chinese administrators tried to restrict the drug starting in 1729, with no luck. Eventually, in 1839, the Daoguang Emperor put his foot down, naively thinking he could finally rid his country of the drug. No, the British attacked. After a series of victories, they forced him to continue allowing the import of opium for decades. This chain of events had a devastating impact on China, one that will likely haunt its memories forever.

O’Melveny chose not to stop racist comments about a judge, and partners "dating" associates

       Back when President Trump was running for office, he had an awful case around his neck. Former students of Trump University had sued him and the school for fraud. So he asked O’Melveny & Myers to get rid of it. Mother Jones just released a video of a break in one of the case’s depositions (rejecting O'Melveny's demand that they destroy the video.) During the break, Mr. Trump told an O'Melveny lawyer, Mr. Daniel Petrocelli, that he was concerned about the judge’s "Spanish" background.  

"Top-ranked" restructuring partner gets recruited to O'Melveny; leaves two months later

       On June 1, O'Melveny announced their recruitment of Adam Rogoff, and legal periodicals also covered the move. (Links one, two and three.) O'Melveny's Chair Brad Butwin said he was "delighted" by Mr. Rogoff's arrival. When asked why he left his old firm, Mr. Rogoff praised O'Melveny and listed its advantages. . . . Two months later, Mr. Rogoff has returned to his prior firm of Kramer Levin. Nothing unethical about this on its face, but I include it because I've never heard of such a thing in professional services.

O'Melveny lawyer reportedly threatened scientists in a way that had "life-and-death consequences"

       Before I get into the details of the story, please let me provide some background on Michael Walsh, because I worked with him at O’Melveny. He was one of the people who wrote my final review there. My impression was that he was another of the firm’s over-promoted associates: associates who had used political connections to get promoted to partner, and who were now making millions of dollars per year even though they didn’t really have much work or clients of their own. Of course, O’Melveny’s other money-grubbing partners are not keen on paying someone who isn’t pulling their weight -- and so I wasn't surprised to see him leave for government in 2018 after only five years as partner. I assume he’s trying to use the O’Melveny strategy of “monetizing” government positions to build a large private sector income stream for himself. Anyway, onto the story.

O'Melveny's human resources

       One of O'Melveny's marketing efforts concerns their Director of Career Development, Jim Moore. They push articles about him and, in writing the May post, I saw O'Melveny list him as an advantage in recruiting materials. So I thought I'd write about an interaction I had with Jim.

O'Melveny's Brad Butwin lies about coronavirus pay cuts

       O'Melveny's Chair Brad Butwin gave an interview to the American Lawyer. In the interview, Mr. Butwin said that O'Melveny did not cut pay during the covid-19 crisis. This is big. Attorneys and clients are keeping track of firms that announced pay cuts, because it sends a signal, e.g., about how the firm treats employees, and the firm's financial condition. Mr. Butwin is providing them with useful information when he tells this reporter that O'Melveny did not change compensation. 

Vulgar lawyers at O'Melveny

       As I was writing the last post about law students who felt misled by O'Melveny's Vault ranking – I noticed something. The one law student in that group who will actually work at O’Melveny had picked a vulgar moniker. His moniker was, “attenuate my taint.” The others picked unremarkable monikers, but when picking his moniker, the O'Melveny person wanted you to think of his taint.¹ It made me wonder if I should do a blog post about the vulgar people I met at O’Melveny. The challenge here is O’Melveny’s threat to sue me for defamation. Even if I’m telling the truth, I don’t want to be caught in a defamation case with only “he said, she said” evidence. That’s why I rely on news articles and other public documents to support the blog’s thesis. 

Law students complain that O'Melveny's Vault rankings are misleading

       One topic that keeps reappearing here is the Vault rankings, specifically the best firm to work for, best summer program, and best firm for diversity rankings. As explained previously, they are self-graded. Law firms give themselves a grade, and Vault uses these grades to rank the firms. For example, if a firm gives itself the highest possible score on diversity, Vault will rank it as the #1 firm in the world for diversity. I know that sounds incredible but that's how it works. Vault is using the honor system, expecting honesty and sincerity from lawyers. 

The Mansfield Rule and the lucrative world of law firm diversity marketing

       Back in 2017, O'Melveny ran a publicity campaign proclaiming their adherence to the Rooney Rule a.k.a. the Mansfield Rule. That rule requires "at least 30 percent of the candidates considered for various law firm positions, including ... lateral positions, [to be] women and attorneys of color." 

       Out of curiosity, I just skimmed O'Melveny's press releases, and clicked on every release announcing the hiring of a new partner. According to these press releases, the last nine partners O'Melveny hired, Mr. Adam Rogoff, Mr. Michael Hamilton (who was sued for discrimination at his prior firm), Mr. Tim Evans, Mr. Todd Boes, Mr. Christopher Owens, Mr. Terrence Dugan, Mr. Michael Dreeben, Mr. Jeffery Norton, and Mr. Jason Kaplan, are all white men. Not that there's anything wrong with hiring white males; I'm a white male. But I wonder if O'Melveny actually considered any women or minorities for these positions.

O'Melveny hires attorney accused of mistreatment at his prior firm

       Mr. Michael Hamilton and Mr. Tim Evans recently returned to O'Melveny from DLA Piper. Both of these men were named in a tragic lawsuit at their prior firm -- a lawsuit filed by a woman who spent much of her life struggling to raise her child as a single mother. Mr. Hamilton was named as an individual defendant and Mr. Evans's name appears in the body of the complaint. The only other attorney named as a defendant, Mr. Michael Meyer, also suddenly left DLA Piper this month.

Another case in which O’Melveny fights alleged Chinese torture victims

       Anecdotally, it seems like O'Melveny works on a certain type of case. Cases that might make you question your life choices. I first wrote about this here, and gave a few examples involving a rape case (posts one and two) and an opioid case (posts one, two and three). 

Monetizing government positions

       A reader asked me how I came to join O’Melveny. So I thought I'd do a post on that, as it also offers a segue to another topic I have been meaning to write about. I came to O'Melveny through a relationship with a former professor, Ted McAniff. When he offered me the chance to work with him, I jumped at it. Imagine everything you would learn and the opportunities you would get at such a prestigious organization. I was excited.

Attorney joins O'Melveny, loses her health and her child, and O'Melveny's benefit provider is fighting her disability claim

       I remember this young woman. I spoke with her for about thirty minutes at a firm event around 2016. She was bright, upbeat, funny, and had recently graduated from the University of Chicago School of Law. She had a wonderful future in front of her. Fast forward three years and she has suffered the tragic loss of her health and child, and she risks becoming homeless due to O'Melveny's benefit provider refusing to pay her disability claim. I saw this at O'Melveny too often. People with bright futures and options would arrive, and they would leave worse off. I can't talk about them, as they did not go public like this young woman, but they're one reason I created this blog. 

The feast or famine life of an O’Melveny partner

       When interacting with O’Melveny's partners, you might have noticed that they sell their services aggressively. Perhaps you've read news reports accusing them of doing unprincipled things for their clients. They appear to be hungry. I was recently informed of a public resource that might explain this behavior. It provides a decade of financials for a particular O’Melveny group.

Allen & Overy walks away from O'Melveny merger

       Allen & Overy and O’Melveny called off their planned merger. The deal reportedly collapsed because O'Melveny's partners wanted more money, and Allen & Overy decided to walk away. 

This blog's web address

       I just noticed that this blog has twenty five posts. It's turning into a book. And these aren't forced posts. I don't have an article quota to fill, like you see in for-profit blogs. Every time I write a post, I assume it will be the last one. Then the press releases another troubling story related to O'Melveny, that needs to be included in this compendium. Assuming once again that this is the blog's last entry, I should take a moment to explain its odd web address.

O'Melveny's revenue-obsessed lawyers might not give the best advice

       The judge ruled against Johnson & Johnson and O'Melveny in the Oklahoma opioid trial. The decision received quite a bit of press, and it might have permanently tarnished Johnson & Johnson's reputation. Yet in all of the analysis, no one discussed the law firm economics aspect of the ruling -- i.e., that O'Melveny might view it as a flow of funds down a revenue "pipeline." 

Subjective, false and misleading

       Last week, legal reporters covered an O'Melveny employee's attempt to remove information from Wikipedia. 

Did O'Melveny ruin Vault's honor system?

       The career advice website Vault released its "best firm to work for" and "best firm for diversity" rankings. These are released each year and, as I explained in a prior post, they rely on the honor system. A firm's score is based on the opinions of the firm's own lawyers, and only the firm's lawyers. The idea is that if asked about their firm's diversity or quality of life -- lawyers would be conscientious, thoughtful and ethical enough to answer honestly.

O'Melveny's opioid "pipeline"

       The first in a series of opioid trials is being televised. (And for good reason. An article suggests that hundreds of thousands of people might have died because judges sealed evidence of pharmaceutical companies' wrongdoing.) The plaintiff in this trial is the State of Oklahoma, and they seek funds to mitigate and abate the crisis. The situation is dire, as one study estimates that opioids could kill half a million Americans in the next decade. 

Giving up revenue to help opioid victims

       In addition to dubious sexual abuse investigations, another of O'Melveny's revenue generators is a massive multi-state opiate addiction case. Another firm defending such cases recently started a public campaign to settle the matter, to "get the monies to the communities that need them, to the people that are addicted ... rather than to pay attorneys’ fees for years and years and years to come." 

O'Melveny's values

       One of the refreshing aspects of the Mueller report, is the ethics shown by white house counsel Don McGahn. According to the report, the President pressured Mr. McGahn to fire Mr. Mueller and end the investigation, under the pretext that Mr. Mueller was conflicted. But despite feeling apprehensive and "worn down" -- Mr. McGahn stuck to his principles and said he would resign before firing Mr. Mueller.

An O'Melveny alumnus gets arrested while negotiating an "independent investigation" retainer

       Under the "independent investigation" business model, alleged wrongdoers pay O'Melveny's white collar practice millions of dollars to investigate and judge their acts. For example, when USC was accused of mishandling sexual abuse, they hired O'Melveny to investigate and decide who was at fault. When a Lions Gate executive was accused of sexual misconduct, they hired O'Melveny to perform a "thorough and independent" investigation and decide whether there was any wrongdoing.

O'Melveny shows off money they made off of an alleged rape victim's misery

       Two years ago, I started this blog, partly to inform and protect others, and partly to cleanse my soul. And it worked. But it's grown much larger than I expected. It was only meant to be one post, but things keep popping up in the news.

Does an O'Melveny lawyer's profit motive interfere? (Please let me tell you about "margin")

       A month ago, a tweet made its way around the internet. In it, a young woman described a chilling ordeal she went through after allegedly being raped. It’s the sort of thing that causes you to step back and question what sort of society we live in.

Please feel free to contact me if you need help

       Two weeks ago, someone wrote me anonymously to complain of sexual offenses by a partner at a law firm. I wanted to help this person, but I couldn't put the partner or firm on this website, due to a lack of personal knowledge or corroborating evidence. Doing so could be unfair to the accused party and libelous (I need to be careful because some firms are vicious when trying to cover up mistreatment, as you can see from O'Melveny's two threatening letters.) Faced with this catch-22, I came up with an effective solution that was very well-received by the person who wrote me.

CBS's accused sexual assaulter hires O'Melveny

       After being accused of assault and/or harassment by a dozen women, Mr. Les Moonves tried to hire both of Harvey Weinstein's former attorneys. But he had to settle for only O'Melveny because Boies told him that they don't do that kind of work anymore.

O'Melveny & Myers and Allen & Overy -- two firms that reportedly enabled Harvey Weinstein's sexual assaults -- are about to merge

       A troubling aspect of Mr. Weinstein's sexual assaults is that they could have been prevented if, back in 2004, O'Melveny did not reportedly humiliate and threaten one of his victims into silence. In some ways, Mr. Weinstein was also the victim of such terrible lawyering. Instead of setting him straight, they enabled and emboldened his worst behavior.

How O'Melveny reportedly whitewashed sexual harassment at Lions Gate

       This week, the Wall Street Journal and other sites wrote about alleged sexual assaults by Lions Gate general counsel Wayne Levin. It's a case study of how companies pay O'Melveny to whitewash sexual harassment. 

       When the victim complained, Lions Gate hired O'Melveny's Adam Karr to "thoroughly and independently" investigate the allegations. The whitewashing started with Mr. Karr conducting a reportedly sham investigation that "couldn't corroborate [the victim's] allegations." Having exonerated the company, they proceeded to the next step in the whitewashing, paying the victim to keep quiet.

Which law firms lie on their Vault self-reports? Here is a way to find out

       The career advice website Vault published another set of "best firms to work for" and "best firms for diversity" rankings. In total, there are twenty-four rankings, e.g. there is a ranking for hours, for training, for compensation, for culture, and so on. For each ranking, Vault asks lawyers to grade their own firm. It then uses these grades to rank the firms. For example, if Firm A receives an average grade of 10.0 from its attorneys, and Firm B receives an average grade of 8.5 from its attorneys, Firm A will be ranked higher than Firm B. Thus a firm can attain a high ranking by pressuring its attorneys to lie, and give it undeservedly high scores.

Another threatening letter from O'Melveny

       After hearing about the USC matter, I corresponded and spoke with a reporter to do what little I could to warn USC sexual abuse victims about O'Melveny's purported impartial investigations. This led to another threatening letter from O'Melveny.

More whitewashing

       After being sued by a flood of victims over sexual abuse that it allegedly concealed for decades, and after a police investigation -- the University of Southern California is starting damage control by using its long-time attorney O'Melveny to conduct an "independent investigation." Given O'Melveny's past in sexual abuse matters, I believe they will act as USC's advocate and do whatever they can do minimize USC's liability.

Why I created this blog, and how to reach me

       A comment reminds me to explain why this blog exists, and how to reach me. 

The late Judge Reinhardt's time at O'Melveny

       After reading an article on the passing of Judge Stephen Reinhardt, I googled around a bit to learn more about this fascinating person. Apparently he used to work at O'Melveny, and these were his experiences:

O'Melveny's sexual harassment investigations

       I just read that Wynn Resorts hired O'Melveny to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct by Steve Wynn. Guess has also hired O'Melveny to perform "an extensive and impartial investigation" into alleged sexual harassment by Paul Marciano (and Guess legal head Anne Deedwania used to work at O'Melveny). Assisting with the Guess investigation is Glaser Weil, the firm men hire when accused of sexual harassment in the #MeToo era.

O'Melveny reportedly threatened one of Harvey Weinstein's victims

       Someone sent me this New York Times link about O'Melveny's Dan Petrocelli. I do not know if it's true, but I wouldn't be surprised. Based on my observations -- the firm does not value laws that protect victims, and instead sees them as something to be gamed via maneuvering, intimidation, legal technicalities and/or forced confidentiality.
  

You had to pretend a lot

       This will probably be the last entry, as I've moved on. But I did want to share these remaining thoughts, in case someone went to the trouble of finding this blog to learn of another's experiences.

Vault tells minorities to join shrinking and demographically stagnant firms

       The website Vault ranked O'Melveny & Myers as the third best law firm for diversity. 

       Below is a chart from Vault's own database showing the percentage of white male equity partners at O'Melveny over the last decade, along with the same information for the industry as a whole. While the rest of the industry decreased this number from 80% to 75% -- O'Melveny was stuck at 80%. (Which is especially bad when you realize its starting class was always about one-third white male. Imagine the number of prejudiced decisions required to consistently turn a 33% white male population into an 80% white male population.) This performance gets you third place at Vault.

Don't complain about torture or discrimination to Bank of America's General Counsel David Leitch

       I received a few emails and phone calls in response to the prior post. Some shared similar experiences at O'Melveny -- situations where someone naively believed the marketing and stood up to unfair acts, only to be fired. One told me about how this happened to a friend, and how it was unforgettable because it left his once spry friend a "broken man" (I wasn't surprised as I saw a similar thing myself.) Others offered general sympathy and support.

O'Melveny's threatening letter

       Their General Counsel Martin Checov sent me a letter on April 18. The letter does not comment on torture, their deficient human resources department, or their retaliation against employees who complain. And it does not contain an apology. 

O'Melveny & Myers and mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure agreements

       I write this post for peace of mind, and to do what little I can to create some good in the world.

       On April 30th, 2015, after three years with this firm during which I received nothing but praise from others -- I told Brian Boyle that I did not want to work with someone who had made an anti-Muslim comment. Brian's first response a few days later was to tell me he would terminate me. He then started winding down my work, making it clear that he was serious. I thought this was illegal under employment law, but I accepted it and prepared to move on. Anti-Muslim comments were not that unusual, and I didn't want to waste my time and energy fighting to stay somewhere I wasn't wanted.

       But this changed when I discovered his past. Brian used to be a Guantanamo Bay torture attorney who made statements so cruel they would make Dick Cheney or John Yoo give pause. He also reportedly lied to a federal court. It was no wonder he responded to me as he did. I felt I had to attempt to stand up to him. So I asked for help from the firm's diversity group, reaching out to Leader of Diversity and Inclusion Mary Ellen Connerty and Diversity and Inclusion Partner Walter Dellinger. I provided a detailed chronology of events, and wrote the memo below. O'Melveny always marketed its diversity efforts, its annual "diversity days" and its diversity committees. They would do something about this.

Date:   July 13, 2015
To:      O'Melveny & Myers LLP [Director of Human Resources Stacie Straw]
Re:      Chair of the Financial Services practice

       Please note that the purpose of this communication is to express a negative statement. Please accept my apologies in advance for this unpleasant letter.

       According to the articles below, in 2004, as lead attorney charged with defending the Guantanamo Bay detentions, Brian Boyle unequivocally told a federal court that there was nothing "remotely like torture" at Guantanamo Bay (It is now publicly acknowledged that there was torture and detainment of people who had no real connection to the war; in fact, the since-repudiated government memos authorizing such torture were written back in 2002.[1]) Brian also told the court that information gained via torture is admissible evidence. Further, he said that any person, with any inadvertent connection to the war, could be captured anywhere in the world and sent to Guantanamo. For example, an “old lady in Switzerland” could be captured and sent to Guantanamo if she donated money to an orphan charity that, unbeknownst to her, turned out to be connected to the Taliban. A teacher in London could be captured and sent to Guantanamo if one of his students turned out to be part of a family that had a connection to the Taliban.

       Brian's statements are not limited to court proceedings; they are his personal views. For example, he spoke in 2005 on The Diane Rehm Show. In this interview, he criticized the Geneva Convention's protections, stating, "this can't be Marquess of Queensberry [the rules for boxing matches]. The interrogation techniques that are permitted with respect to Geneva POWs are exceedingly limited. And I think there is no reason therefore to apply to protections of Geneva" to Guantanamo detainees. He also criticized his debate opponent’s "habeas litigation" because it was "having undesirable consequences on the performance of the mission at Guantanamo, undesirable consequences for the gathering of additional intelligence from the detainees down there . . .."

       Please allow me to provide an example, to explain why this issue is important. I am currently litigating in the Iranian civil and criminal courts to recover properties that were embezzled from my late murdered father (and please note I have specific permission from the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control). In this effort, I have encountered viciousness, threats and attempts to use anti-Americanism against me. But I also encountered idealistic people who believe in the rule of law in Iran, even if it benefits an American. There are different kinds of attorneys and judges in the world – some promote civility and the rule of law; others use their position to create a more corrupt and lawless world.

       As lead attorney with the power to supervise Guantanamo Bay, Brian was put in a historic position. He could have used his authority to protect the rule of law, and the idealism that our country creates. Instead, he argued that the United States should be as lawless, arbitrary and brutal as any despotic regime.

       In my opinion, this history shows that Brian might not use authority in an honest and responsible manner. In addition, Brian seems to dehumanize people, particularly people with a connection to Islam. I suspect that dishonest use of pretext and dehumanization manifested in his interactions with me, as detailed in the e-mail of July 3. But regardless of his interactions with me, for the above reasons, I do not believe he should be given management authority at a firm with the standards of O'Melveny & Myers.

[1] For background, see Jens David Ohlin, The Torture Lawyers, 51 Harv. Int'l L.J. 193 (2010) or Michael P. Scharf, The Torture Lawyers, 20 Duke J. Comp. & Int'l L. 389 (2010).  

I waited, but human resources never contacted me. Instead, they suddenly shipped me to St. Louis to sit with Brian in a war room. This was not a coincidence; in the past three years I had never worked with Brian, or in this matter's area of law, until this case. I was surprised by this turn of events, but what could I do? It was either go, stay quiet and hope for the best -- or quit. 

       Then they sicced Adam Karr on me, a litigator who defends employers accused of discrimination. His first question was whether I wanted to drop the complaint, and he then made it clear via browbeating that I should keep quiet ("I'm not an ombudsman I'm an attorney for the firm." "I don't have to answer that I'm not responding to a subpoena." "I hope I don't hear from you again. You'll be an employee with a pattern of complaining." "It seems like you don't want to work here." [These may not be word-for-word accurate quotes as I'm going from memory, but they're very close.])

       After that I was moved into Brian's subgroup even though it was outside of my area of expertise. Although Brian was the head of the department as a whole, he worked in ERISA, whereas I previously worked on bank regulatory and consumer finance law. In his group, I was treated like a persona non grata and told my career and compensation were at a dead end.  

       I tried to stay positive, but I couldn't make sense of what was happening. Of all the possible ways to respond to my complaint, why would the firm choose this? I repeatedly told Adam Karr that the situation was bizarre and uncomfortable, but was ignored each time. Soon I started to wonder what they would do next. These were not good people. My office was on the floor where they tell employers how to legally get rid of complaining employees, and where they defend schools accused of allowing rape and other sexual misconduct. Almost every day I overheard such machinations against victims. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night with feelings of dread and panic. Curious for another perspective, I spent thousand of dollars on therapy, where I was constantly told that this was a natural consequence of being in a terrible situation, and that the only solution was to find another job.

       Eventually things came to a head. During my February 27 review I glanced at the document to see it describe me as "timely," "helpful," "excellent and enthusiastic," "always prompt," "consistent," "engaged," thorough," "accura[te]," "quick," "a great resource," "hardworking," and "an asset to the firm," with a "knack for connecting complex issues." Then I glanced at the next page to see there wasn't a dollar of raise or promotion. I wasn't surprised; although I made one-fifteenth of the average partner's 2016 profits of $2 million, worked a grueling schedule and consistently received good reviews from others -- Brian was the ultimate decider of such things and he hadn't given me a raise or promotion in five years. So I sat there quietly. Brian asked if I saw the tear sheet that lists the raise or promotion. Yes, saw it. He then spent about 20 seconds showing how his outstretched arms could reach from one side of my unusually small office to the other, while his junior partner cackled. 

       This junior partner, Catalina Vergara, was superficially nice but also someone I learned to avoid. When I was forced into Brian's group, I moved my office to her floor. She was the only partner from that group who was in the Los Angeles office. She also marketed herself as an underprivileged Latina and champion of diversity, which sounded promising. I thought perhaps I could work with her. No, she was by far the most hostile partner in the group. I guess like Adam Karr, she was trying to show the senior partners that she would teach me a lesson for complaining. Once she flat out said something like, "because everyone's against you." What do you do in a moment like that? I walked away and pretended not to hear her. Later, I learned associates mocked her claimed Latina status, as she came from well-off European ancestry. This was O'Melveny: disingenuous and avaricious people sitting around hoping to make millions off of victims' misery -- victims abused and injured far worse than me. Why would they treat me any differently than the people they litigated against?

       Next, another of Brian's junior partners, Greg Jacob, ordered me to perform a conflicts check using google. I was asked to perform 140 google searches, and read pages of results under each search looking for conflicts. Mr. Jacob wanted to sell a small project to a mid-sized energy company, but they wouldn't grant the firm a prospective conflict waiver. This was a problem for Randy Oppenheimer, who is constantly trying to sell work to Chevron and Exxon. He was worried that the small project would conflict with his possible future representation of those companies -- so they decided to use google searches to resolve this concern. This was a futile task; this process had no chance of finding all potential conflicts. Google isn't a conflict checking tool. And this at a firm with a history of conflict of interest issues. But the firm's general counsel Martin Checov and Jillian Weinstein were copied on the email, so I assume they signed off on this approach. I then called around to see if the library or conflicts group could help, but they both refused. They had turned this task down before it was assigned to me. Whether they were doing this to mess with me, or because they were just an atrociously run organization -- it didn't matter. I couldn't continue this for another year. So I gave up, told them I would quit as soon as I found another job and criticized the handling of my 2015 complaint. I expected them to just let me move on quietly. No, even that was asking too much. The next day, after finishing a task, I checked my email to see Brian had terminated me suddenly with no severance or transition assistance. 

       This brings me to the reason why I made this website. Before getting there, let me summarize what happened: I told Brian Boyle that I didn't want to work with someone who made an anti-Muslim comment, and in response he said he'd fire me. After learning about Mr. Boyle's background, I complained to the Director of Human Resources, Stacie Straw, their diversity manager, Mary Ellen Connerty, and their diversity partner, Walter Dellinger, a man who publicly claims to be of ethics. Their response was to move me directly under Brian, and let him make my life difficult for a year until I quit. Well that was easy. Why does any employer worry about discrimination law? If someone complains, just mess with them until they have to leave.

       Actually, it might not be that easy outside of O'Melveny. You see, one reason O'Melveny is able to respond to complaints in the manner above, is because they force employees to sign away their rights. To work at O'Melveny, you must sign this document (pp. one, two, three, four, five). It states that victims of "discrimination or sexual harassment" cannot go to court, and they cannot talk about what happened. They have to use O'Melveny's confidential dispute resolution process -- which gets you the treatment above. Three courts, including the Ninth Circuit, have called this document "unconscionable" (cases one, two and three) -- but O'Melveny still uses it. I think the main reason they use it is the confidentiality clause. Victim silence is key.

       I hope this site helps protect others.

       Thank you for granting me the dignity of reading my post, and God bless. (And if you're wondering, I've felt fine, wonderful even, since leaving.)

       [Addendum: O'Melveny has reportedly stopped forcing employees to sign the mandatory arbitration and nondisclosure document, after a campaign by law students.] 

       [Second addendum: Corporate Counsel reported that Adam Karr did a sham investigation of sexual abuse at Lions Gate.]


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The following is a public list of O'Melveny & Myers's attorneys and managers provided in the hopes that if they discriminate against you (or are themselves discriminated against) -- this site is found and read before anyone hurts themselves by complaining to the diversity group or human resources. Billy Abbott, Adam Ackerman, Sloane Ackerman, Eli Aizenman, Tad Allan, David Almeling, Peter Alter, Brandon Amash, Eric Amdursky, Nima Amini, Alexander Anderson, Brian Anderson, Chris Anderson, Michael Antalics, antitrust, Nicole Argentieri, Elizabeth Arias, Seth Aronson, Laura Aronsson, Nate Asher, Emily Atwater, Lindsay Hersh Autz, Naomi Babu, Allison Bader, Seth Baglin, Caitlin Bair, Charles Baker, bankruptcy, Alan Bao, Jeffrey Barker, Shannon Barrett, Marni Barta, Rob Barthelmess, Jared Bartie, George Bashour, Olta Bejleri, Thomas Baxter, David Beddow, Andrew Bednark, Jacob Beiswenger, Brad Berg, Brian Berliner, Kurt Berney, Jan Birtwell, Alicja Biskupska-Haas, Tyler Bittner, Hope Blain, K. Lee Blalack II, Robert Blashek, Andrew Bledsoe, Craig Bloom, Elizabeth Bock, Christopher Todd Boes, T. Hale Boggs, annual bonus, winter bonus, Daniel Bookin, Alexandra Bornstein, Caitlin Boucher, Chris Bowman, Jim Bowman, Brian Boyle, Ben Bradshaw, Stephanie Bradshaw, Daniel Braun, Jessica Brent, Drew Breuder, Jonathan Bridges, Denis Brock, Steve Brody, Jessica Brostek, Mary Patrice Brown, Kurt Brown, Brussels, Greyson Bryan, William Buffaloe, Sharon Bunzel, Christopher Burke, Allen Burton, Brad Butwin, managing partner, Courtney Byrd, Joanna Calabrese, Ben Callahan, omm, Natalie Camastra, Daniel Cantor, Jing Cao, capital markets, Jen Cardelús, O'Melveny careers, Jennie Carpel, Matt Carter, Margaret Carter, David Cartwright, Melissa Cassel, Rob Catmull, Riccardo Celli, Century City, Aaron Cha, chambers, Winnie Chan, Winston Chang, Hannah Chanoine, Kelsey Chandrasoma, omm, Martin Checov, Alexander Chester, Lillian Cheung, Jae Wan Chi, Eric Chianese, Junaid Chida, John Chong, Apalla Chopra, Joshua Chow, Brophy Christensen, Andrew Churchill, class action, Matthew Close, David Cohen, Tod Cohen, Valerie Cohen, Mary Ellen Connerty, Brian Cook, Daniel Cooper, corona, coronavirus, covid-19, corporate, Rebecca Cottrell, Brian Covotta, Amber Covucci, Matt Cowan, Kimberly Cullen, Mario Cuttone, Peter D'Agostino, Justine Daniels, Jack Day, David Deaton, Zachary Dekel, Chris Del Rosso, Luly Del Pozo, Walter Dellinger, George Demos, Jorge deNeve, John Dermody, Terence Desouza, John Dickson, Maria DiConza, Harout Dimijian, o'melveny dc, Andrew Dolak, Kelly Donahue, Thomas Donilon, Michael Dreeben, Melody Drummond Hansen, M. Elizabeth Dubeck, Yaira Dubin, Terrence Dugan, Hannah Dunham, Alex Duran, Mary Pat Dwyer, Courtney Dyer, Mark Easton, David Eberhart, Robert Eccles, Randall Edwards, Houman Ehsan, Brad Elias, Scott Elliott, Elizabeth Evans, Tim Evans, Natasha Fedder, Kevin Feder, Marc Feinstein, Vince Ferrito, Danielle Feuer, Ben Finger, omm, Jeffrey Fisher, Robert Fisher, Berit Grace Fitzsimmons, Jessica Fluehr, James Ford, Nessa Forman, Abby Formella, Seth Fortin, David Foster, Jeffrey Fowler, Warren Fox, Andrew Frackman, Daniel Franklin, Peter Friedman, Stephanie Fung, Ross Galin, Sam Galvan, Meredith Garagiola, Brad Garcia, Ella Ge, Nidhi Geevarghese, Eric Geffner, omm, Andrew Geist, Ke Geng, Amanda Genovese, Karen Gillen, Janniece Gilliams, Elizabeth Gimzewski, Jared Ginsburg, Jeremy Girton, glassdoor O'Melveny, Scott Gleason, Leah Godesky, Richard Goetz, Samantha Goldstein, omm, Mia Gonzalez, Jillian Goodman, Jeffrey Gordon, Laura Gore, Brittany Gorin, Robert Graffum, Alexa Graumlich, Zach Greenberg, Eli Grossman, Kyle Grossman, Steven Grossman, Craig Grounds, Vanessa Guerrero, Allan Gustin, Diarra Guthrie, Joe Guzman, Ben Haber, Adam Haberkorn, Jonathan Hacker, Tim Hagen, Scott Hammack, Michael Hamilton, Jason Han, Li Han, Kayla Haran, Victoria Hargis, Scott Harman-Heath, James Harrigan, Jefferson Harwell, Megan Havstad, Jaroslaw Hawrylewicz, Mark Hayden, Arthur Hazlitt, Timothy Heafner, healthcare, Carl Erik Heiberg, Howard Heiss, Jay Herron, Shelly Heyduk, Sarah Higgins, Hugh Hilliard, Matthew Hinker, Sarah Hoffner, Jeff Hoffner, Caitlin Hogan, Chris Hollinger, Richard Holm, Alison Holtzman, Qianru Hong, Hong Kong, Susannah Howard, Qianyu Hu, Claire Huang, Kieran Humphrey, Shane Hunt, Mattie Hutton, Noah Ickowitz, David Iden, Kate Ikehara, Samantha Indelicato, Tracie Ingrasin, Kelsey Irish, Philip Irwin, Amit Itai, Brandon Scott Jacobsen, Wayne Jacobsen, Jordan Jacobson, Lauren Jaeger, Rachel Janger, Vino Jayaraman, Brooke Jenkins, David Johnson, Evan Jones, Patrick Jones, Aparna Joshi, Nora Kahn, Matthew Kaiser, Mariam Kamran, Wendy Kan, Adam Kaplan, Jason Kaplan, Lauren Kaplan, John Kappos, Adam Karr, Rochelle Karr, Theodore Kassinger, Laura Kaufmann, Marla Kelly, Brian Kenyon, R. Collins Kilgore, Joseph Kim, Stella Kim, Nikole Kingston, David Kirman, Andrew Kirschenbaum, Matt Kline, Tobias Knapp, Joseph Keith Kobylka, Jeffrey Kohn, Adam KohSweeney, Jeffrey Kopczynski, Noah Kornblith, Kevin Kraft, Matthew Kremer, David Krinsky, Gordon Krischer, Portia Ku, Mollie Kuether, omm, Aditya Kurian, Yukie Kurosawa, Shinji Kusuda, Geoff Kuziemko, Edwin Kwok, Christianna Mantas Kyriacou, o'melveny labor and employment practice, John Laco, Brock Laney, Kelsey Larson, David Lash, Jeffrey Lau, Amy Laurendeau, omm, lawyer, Warren Lazarow, Carlos Lazatin, Jonathan Le, o'melveny leadership, Angela Lee, Janet Lee, Jeeho Lee, Grace Leeper, O'Melveny legal, O'Melveny Myers logo, Philip Legendy, Samuel Lehman, Daniel Leigh, Molly Lens, Hilda Leung, Andrew Levad, Sarah Levesque, Andrew Levine, Adam Levine, David Leviss, Bo Li, James Yi Li, Amy Liang, Mark Liang, Wuxiao Liang, Harry Liberman, Greta Lichtenbaum, Andrew Lichtenstein, Charles Lifland, Dawn Lim, Vincent Lin, linkedin, Meg Lippincott, David Litt, Zhao Liu, Mei Liu, Yiming Liu, Wei Liu, Luisa Lizoain, Ben Logan, o'melveny login, london, Adam Longenbach, Laurel Loomis Rimon, Maxwell Loos, Los Angeles, Laura Lorenz, Loyola 2L blog, Su Lian Lu, Nick Loukides, Lindsey Love, Amy Lucas, Caroline Lynch, Kristin MacDonnell, Yoji Maeda, Biola Macaulay, Kelsey Maher, Charles Mahoney, David Makarechian, Jeremy Maltby, Moshe Mandel, Anne Marchitello, Clay Marquez, David Marroso, Kristin Marshall, Christina Martin, Racquel Martin, William Martin, Martin Mayo, Craig McAllister, Edward McAniff, Kelly McDonnell, Ephraim McDowell, Russell McGlothlin, Michael McGuinness, Stephen McIntyre, Elizabeth Liz McKeen, Patrick McKegney, Patrick McNally, Kelly McTigue, Heather Meeker, Maybelline Mena-Hadyka, Weigang Meng, Ashley Menzies, mergers and acquisitions, Brian Metcalf, Tina Metis, Anton Metlitsky, Margarita Nikki Michael, Callahan Miller, Pamela Miller, Samantha Emily Miller, Paige Minteer, Nancy Mitchell, Tania Moayedi, Anna Mohan, Lisa Monaco, Philip Monaghan, Sean Monroe, Bo Moon, Tristan Morales, Emiko Morisato (Ogino), omm, Luc Moritz, Edward Moss, John-Paul Motley, Ryan Murguía, Matthew Murphy, Aisling Murray, Kevin Murray, Shawmir Naeem, Patrick Nack-Lehman, Catherine Nagle, Cindy Navarro, O'Melveny NALP, Vivaan Nehra, Newport Beach, Andrew Nizamian, New York, Bob Nicksin, Hiroko Nihei, Philippe Nogues, Zoheb Noorani, Jeff Norton, o'melveny interview tips, plymetrics, pymetrics, Margaret O'Boyle, Daniel O'Boyle, Joe O'Connor, O'Melveny podcast, Danielle Oakley, Hana Oh, Gabriel Olivera, Steve Olson, omelveny legal, o'melveny offices, omm, O'Melveny and Myers llp, o'melveny omm ommni, o'melveney, o'malveney, M. Randall Randy Oppenheimer, Eric Ormsby, Jason Orr, Tom Oslovar, Jordyn Elise Ostroff, Chris Owens, Sara Pahlavan, Charles Paillard, Sung Pak, Janine Panchok-Berry, William Pao, Eashaa Parekh, Trisha Parikh, Sherin Parikh, Amy Park, Alexander Parker, Maiah Parks, Ashley Pavel, Christian Peeters, Marc Pensabene, Lisa Pensabene, Julio Pereyra, Diana Perez, Caylyn Perry, Moshe Peters, Mark Peterson, Daniel Petrocelli, Alexandra K. Piarino, Michael Pierce, Scott Pink, Robert Plesnarski, Anna Pletcher, Madhu Pocha, podcast, William David Pollak, Adrian Pollner, Edward Poon, Dimitri Portnoi, Colleen Powers, Matt Powers, Jaime Prince, Ty Probst, O'Melveny profits per partner, Brian Quinn, Jamie Quinn, Mark Racanelli, Irwin Raij, Ramon Ramirez, John J. Rapisardi, Denise Raytis, O'Melveny recruiting contacts, recruiting coordinator, Alexander Reed, restructuring practice, Christopher Rieck, omm, John Renneisen, David Ribner, Deanna Rice, Eric Richards, Brett Richter, Marina Richter, Laura Riley, Asher Rivner, Alexander Roberts, Dave Roberts, Ashley Robertson, Mark Robertson, Katrina Robson, Esteban Rodriguez, Brittany Rogers, omm, Jonathan Rosenberg, Mike Rosenblatt, Joseph Roth, Eric Rothenberg, James Rothstein, John Rousakis, Clarence Rowland, Marissa Roy, Abby Rudzin, Sydney Ryan, Kimya Saied, o'melveny salary, Nora Salem, Mark Samuels, Kathryn Sanders, Alix Sandman, o'melveny San Francisco, o'melveny sf, Amanda Santella, Stuart Sarnoff, Victoria Saunders, Gerard Savaresse, Hassen Sayeed, Ethan Scapellati, Scott Schaeffer, Tancred Schiavoni, Alec Schierenbeck, Evan Schlom, Katie Schmidt, Jonathan Schneller, Nancy Schroeder, Sophie Schult, Eberle Schultz, David Schultz, Ben Seelig, Seoul, Dawn Sestito, Cassandra Seto, Daniel Shamah, Lining Shan, Shanghai, Viqar Shariff, Nolan Shaw, Jonathan Shelley, Arjun Shenoy, Jerri Shick, Youngwook Shin, Rebecca Shore, Eric Sibbitt, Paul Sieben, Amy Siegel, Robert Siegel, Silicon Valley, Daniel Silverman, Michael Simeone, Ian Simmons, Luann Simmons, Alvin Sin, Ben Singer, Singapore, David Smith, Megan Smith, Valerie Smith, Matthew Smock, Scott Snyder, Darin Snyder, Jessica Snyder, Jennifer Sokoker, Kara Sommers, Joseph Spina, Maya Spitzer, John Sprangers, Grace Spurgeon, Lauren Stamey, Ashleigh Stanley, Sevda Staykova, Anne Steinberg, Stephen Stern, Dian Stevens, Braddock Stevenson, Maria Stewart, Sarah Stoeckel, Teo Stoica, Jay Stolkin, Cameron Storah, Stacie Straw, Sabrina Strong, omm, Jhe-Yu Su, Ashish Sudhakaran, Scott Sugino, Greg Suhr, Stephen Sullivan, Ye Sun, Bill Sushon, Daniel Suvor, Gary Svirsky, Lauren Sweet, Maha Syed, Zach Tafoya, AJ Talt, Sophie Tarazi, Jennifer Taylor, Damali Taylor, Andor Terner, Buzz Thompson, Phillip Thomas, Gregory Thorpe, Henry Thumann, Logan Tiari, Bruce Tobey, Tokyo, Desirae Tongco, Luis Torres-Cervantes, Stefanos Touzos, Dylan Towns, Alex Trabolsi, Bill Trac, D. Sean Trainor, transactional, Yuki Tsang, Valerie Tsui, Michael Tubach, Dan Tully, Kathryn Turner, Kendall Turner, twitter, James Ukropina, Sabrina van der Linden Gonzales, Silvia Vannini, Shara Venezia-Walerstein, Catalina Vergara, Meaghan VerGow, Adrian Vidaurri, Scott Voelz, Maria von Schack, Maude Vonderau, Lauren Wagner, Jeff Walbridge, Carolyn Wall, Walker Wallace, Katherine Wang, Tony Wang, Yiying Wang, Alison Ward, Steve Warren, Washington D.C., o'melveny water practice, Jonathan Waxman, Loren Weber, O'Melveny website, Andrew Weiler, Jillian Weinstein, Vincent Weisband, Andrew Weisberg, Heather Welles, Cliff Wen, Cameron Westin, Nicholas Whilt, omm, white collar, Evie Whiting, Scott Widen, Brett Williamson, Emilie Winckel, Robert Winson, Vision Winter, Henry Wong, Kelly Wood, Mark Wood, Paul Wooten, working for O'Melveny & Myers, Melissa Wright, Candice Wu, Trevor Wysocki, Aaron Xin, Meng Xu, Grace Xu, Stacy Yae, Ryan Yagura, Jason Yan, Mollie Yeh, Randolph Yiap, Michael Yoder, Geoff Yost, Wenting Yu, Angela Yung, Javed Yunus, Eric Zabinski, Nia Zaferis, Yuko Zaha, Sorin Zaharia, Krystel Zambrano, Elena Zarabozo, Jason Zarrow, Sergei Zaslavsky, Maya Zagayer, Yuan Grace Zhong, Vincent Zhou, Kai Zhu, Ke Zhu, Annie Ziesing, Joseph Zujkowski, o'melveny dc