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Vote on Desiree Davidson's Story
Were they afraid we were planning a coup d'etat?
I spent my first summer during Columbia Law School at a firm in Philadelphia described as one of the best places in the city for black lawyers. I believed that if there was any place where I would have an equal chance at opportunities, be treated fairly and succeed, this would be it. There were three black female summer associates out of sixty that year but any time all three of us were in an office talking, one of the partners would knock on the door to see how we were doing. It happened too often to be a coincidence that sometimes we would purposely agree to meet in so-and-so's office to test our theory that we were being monitored. Like clock work, ten minutes after we would get together a partner would stop by.
I was the most senior attorney and yet I was completely disempowered.
I worked for a law firm two and a half months. I was the eighth person to leave within three months. There was one partner who was white, male, middle-aged. Most of the staff members were women in there 20s. There was one man who was LGBT. I was the only attorney who was not white. I was hired to gain access to the Asian clientele. I had known that going into the position. Despite being the attorney with the most amount of experience, there were certain instances where I was completely disempowered and felt a very hostile environment.