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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.
Don't send me to a satellite office in Asia just because I'm Asian
- Workplace Unfairness
- Female
- Asian
- Law Firm
- Law Firm
- International Experience
- Retaliation
- Stereotyping
- Stifled Growth
When I was at a big firm in New York, the economy was great and there were a lot of activities in Asia. They needed attorneys to go to the Hong Kong and Tokyo offices. They would ask all the Asians to go because they assumed we spoke the language and that we wanted to go. Some of us were born in the U.S. and didn't speak word of Chinese. It's a bit of dead end to go to a side office too early in your career because you aren't recognized by the home office. What's the implication if you say "no"?