I’m sharing this email that I just received from an anonymous Dirty LAWndry reader.

“I have a confession to make.  I work for  a large firm and I was recently promoted from a staff attorney position to an associate because I’m white.  I’ve only worked for the firm for about two years.  I started as a contract attorney, and then I was hired as a staff attorney after 8 months.   At this firm, if you’ve been a staff attorney for at least 1 year and an associate position becomes available, then you can apply for it.  The Senior staff attorney makes the hiring decision.  They say that the Senior staff attorney only makes a recommendation and then a partner either approves or disapproves, but you only have one interview with the Senior staff attorney.

So, when the associate position became available, I was encouraged by the Senior staff attorney to apply.  He told me that they were looking to fill two or three spots.  There were three other staff attorneys that were eligible to apply.  One of them - “Max” - said he had applied previously years ago but was told that due to his grades in law school he couldn’t be offered the position.  The other two - let’s call them “Jane” and “John” - were not told about the position right away.  When the Senior staff attorney told me about the position, it hadn’t been emailed to everyone yet.  He told me about it two weeks before the email was sent by the firm.  I am the one who told “Jane” and “John” about it.  I assumed that the Senior staff attorney told them too, but he didn’t.  This was kind of awkward because both “Jane” and “John” were hired as staff attorneys and had been with the firm longer than I had, and this was the first time that an associate position had opened up since they started.

On the morning of the interview, the Senior staff attorney saw me in the break room and told me that I had nothing to worry about.  “Jane” and “John” had their interviews before I did.  I was able to speak to them afterwards.  They both said that their interviews went well, but they weren’t sure what the outcome would be.  I didn’t really know much about “John” so I couldn’t say what his qualifications are.  But, “Jane” and I graduated from the same law school.  She was a couple of years ahead of me, but I remembered her because she was always in the school paper receiving some award or another.  She graduated summa cum laude and was an editor for one of the law reviews.  I didn’t graduate with any honors.  My G.P.A was only a 2.8 and I didn’t participate in law review or any other activity.  So, I figured “Jane” had a pretty good shot at one of the openings.  When I had my interview, the Senior staff attorney pretty much just told me what to expect as an associate and what my responsibilities would be.  He really didn’t ask me any interview questions.

About two weeks after the interview, the firm sent an email to everyone welcoming me as the new associate.  Apparently, “Jane” and “John” weren’t offered a position.  The associates and staff attorneys do not work on the same floor.  After I cleaned off my desk, I went into the Senior staff attorney’s office to let him know I was leaving and to say thanks for his recommendation.  It was during this time that I learned that he only recommended me because I was white.  “Jane” is a black woman. “John” is Asian.  The Senior staff attorney was making inappropriate statements about never hiring “n-s”.  He said that even though “John” is Asian, he’s still a “n” and that Asian “n-s” just thought they were better than the other “n-s” and that just because they bleach their skin they weren’t white.

So, I’m not sure what to do.  The partner that approved my position seems to be close to the Senior staff attorney.  I’ve heard them making offensive jokes when it’s only white people around them.   Meanwhile, there is one more associate position to fill and the only two eligible staff attorneys left are “Jane” and “John.”

Dirty….. Speak on it, people!