SAN FRANCISCO Former Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers partner Ellen Pao is not the only person w...

1. In losing gender bias trial, Pao's lawyers denied millions in
fees | Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO Former Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers partner Ellen Pao is not the only
person who lost when a California jury rejected her claims of gender discrimination against the
venture capital firm. Her lawyers also missed out on a payday that could have reached into the
millions of dollars.
Pao sought about $16 million in lost wages and tens of millions more in punitive damages in a
lawsuit that captivated Silicon Valley. Had Pao won on any of her claims, under California law her
legal team, led by longtime San Francisco employment lawyers Alan Exelrod and Therese Lawless,
could have sought all its fees from Kleiner.
Friday's result underscores how risky trials can be for the lawyers who represent employees, who
generally do not bill by the hour. They are usually paid either a percentage of any settlement, or by
seeking fees from the defendant if they win at trial.
Pao's 2012 lawsuit was just one among several that have been filed against Silicon Valley tech
companies over gender, and employment lawyers watched the case particularly closely, filling the
seats of the courtroom.
Earlier in March, Lawless filed a separate lawsuit against Facebook Inc over allegations an
employee was sexually harassed and faced gender discrimination.
A 2013 employment trial in the same San Francisco Superior Court as the Pao case provides some
guidance about how much her lawyers could have recovered had the verdict gone her way.
While the cases are different, the rules for collecting fees would have been similar in the Pao case,
which ended on Friday with the jury clearing Kleiner of gender discrimination and retaliating
against Pao for suing the firm.
Exelrod and Lawless were not immediately available to comment on fees.
In the 2013 case, a woman who sued a Catholic school for gender and age discrimination went to
trial for more than a month in San Francisco Superior Court. Among several claims, the jury sided
with her on an unpaid vacation time claim, and awarded her about $16,000 in damages.
After the verdict her attorney, John McGuinn, told the judge in court filings that he worked 1,635
hours on the case from his initial meeting with the client through
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide.php verdict, and listed his rate at $750 per hour. One of his
associates worked 794 hours at $395 per hour.
At those rates, the total amount for McGuinn's team would have topped $1.5 million, though he
sought less because of the narrow win. The judge ultimately awarded about $618,000 in fees and
costs, and the case has been appealed.
McGuinn could not immediately be reached for comment.

2. Exelrod, Lawless and McGuinn all have similarly long experience as employee attorneys in San
Francisco. In court filings, McGuinn said one of Exelrod's partners has been awarded $775 per hour
in another wage case.
Kleiner's lead lawyer Lynne Hermle, of the Orrick Herrington Sutcliffe law firm, billed about $725
per hour in 2011, according to court filings in a separate case.
The law likely would not allow the venture capital firm Las Vegas lawyers to seek attorneys fees
from Pao, who has the right to appeal the verdict. Kleiner, however, could seek reimbursement for
costs associated with the lawsuit, such as expert witness payments, deposition expenses and court
filing fees.
A Kleiner spokeswoman declined to comment on whether it would seek costs from Pao.
Trials are often well produced multi-media events, with videos, slide presentations and thousands of
pages of transcripts, and the Pao case was no exception.
James Brown, who represented the Catholic school at trial and was not involved in the Pao case, said
costs in the Pao case could be between $100,000 and $200,000, depending on the number of
depositions.
(Editing by Peter Henderson and Grant McCool)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/28/us-kleiner-lawsuit-fees-idUSKBN0MO04E20150328