Black attorney negotiates discrimination judgment with New York-based law firm

Jet, Sept 12, 1994

A Black former associate at a New York-based law firm recently won a negotiated judgment of $505,000.

The attorney, Andargachew Zelleke, who is of Ethiopian ancestry, claimed that White lawyers in the Los Angeles office of White & Case forced him out of the firm after he formally raised complaints that a senior associate told colleagues, "Zelleke is so stupid because he's half Black," and made other unflattering remarks about members of the Black race.

White & Case did not admit any wrongdoing in the case, but it did agree to the settlement and to reimburse Zelleke for legal fees and expenditures.

Zelleke, 33, a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, now teaches at the University of California at Los Angeles Law School.

"I think a lot of firms will get their houses in order," Zelleke told JET.