Sexism in Silicon Valley: in the courtroom at Ellen Pao v. Kleiner Perkins – The Verge

Ellen Pao says diversity will improve in Silicon Valley when more people tell their stories

2015-05-27T16:19:18-04:00

This year, former venture capitalist Ellen Pao captivated Silicon Valley by suing her former firm, Kleiner Perkins, alleging gender discrimination. Pao lost the case, and hasn't yet said whether she would appeal. In some of her first extended comments since the trial, Pao appeared at the Code Conference today calling on other people who have experienced discrimination to share their own stories - and said doing so may help improve diversity in Silicon Valley as much as anything.

Pao left the trial with no regrets, she said. "I connected with so many people," she told Kara Swisher of Recode at the conference, which as of yesterday is part of …

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Kleiner Perkins threatens Ellen Pao with nearly $1 million in legal fees

2015-04-23T16:13:47-04:00

According to documents filed today, Kleiner Perkins is now threatening Ellen Pao with $973,000 in court costs if she decides to appeal the case. The decision to press the issue comes one month after the Silicon Valley giant was found not liable in the highest-profile gender discrimination case in years.

Pao, who currently serves as interim CEO at Reddit, took the venture capital firm to trial earlier this year, armed with claims that a brief, consensual affair with a partner during her tenure at Kleiner Perkins resulted in retaliation and lost wages - all part and parcel of the entrenched sexism in VC culture. The trial did much to expose t …

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Five uncomfortable truths about the Ellen Pao verdict

2015-04-02T11:51:46-04:00

Almost a week later, I do not know how I would have voted if I were on the jury for the gender discrimination trial against Kleiner Perkins. Given 14 pages of instructions from the judge, seven pages of questions to answer, and a mandate to decide whether Kleiner had been biased in 2012, using performance reviews from 2007 - who knows? I may have arrived at the same decision as the six women and six men who found the venture capital firm not liable. So much about this trial seemed to hinge on whether or not you found Ellen Pao sympathetic, credible, or a crusader. From the gallery in room 602 each day, my worldview changed with each new witn …

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Jury finds Kleiner Perkins not liable on all claims in Ellen Pao’s gender discrimination case

2015-03-27T17:10:22-04:00

After less than 72 hours of deliberation, the jury in the gender discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins found the powerful Silicon Valley venture capital firm not liable for all four of Ellen Pao's claims, including retaliation and failure to prevent retaliation. There was a dramatic, last minute upset when Judge Kahn realized there was a miscount on the fourth claim. They needed nine out of 12 jurors for a decision and only eight voted "no." They went back into deliberations and came back with nine out of 12.

There was a dramatic, last minute upset

Among Pao's claims, the gender discrimination claim was the most consequential. On th …

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Ellen Pao vs. Ellen Pao: who will the jury believe?

2015-03-26T14:41:12-04:00

The most excruciating moments in the last leg of the gender discrimination trial against Kleiner Perkins happened Tuesday afternoon when Lynne Hermle, Kleiner's formidable attorney, walked away from the podium to deliver parts of her summation a few feet closer to Ellen Pao. Outside the courtroom, Pao seems light-hearted, impish even. In the elevator last week, a reporter loudly kvetched about sitting through the month-long trial, and Pao piped up: "It'll be over soon!" From the plaintiff's table, however, Pao can be inscrutable.

"Plays it close to the vest" was a critique in one of Pao's performance reviews, and Hermle has quoted it to the …

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These questions will determine whether the jury finds Kleiner Perkins liable

2015-03-24T13:46:32-04:00

Judge Harold Kahn just finished giving the jury in the Ellen Pao v. Kleiner Perkins case the verdict form they will use as a guide to determine whether the venture capital firm is liable for gender discrimination, retaliation, and failure to prevent retaliation for not promoting her to senior partner and terminating her employment after she complained about discrimination.

Pao, now the interim CEO of Reddit, is suing for $16 million in compensatory damages for income she lost by not being promoted and later fired. The jury has been instructed not to take into account Pao's stock options at Reddit or the loss of "carried interest," which ref …

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Ellen Pao can sue Kleiner Perkins for punitive damages, rules judge

2015-03-21T15:03:06-04:00

Ellen Pao is suing for both punitive and compensatory damages in her gender discrimination trial against the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. Today, Judge Harold E. Kahn upheld the punitive damages claim, saying, "There is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable juror could conclude that Kleiner Perkins engaged in intentional gender discrimination."

The trial is expected to reach closing arguments Tuesday. Pao, now the interim CEO of Reddit, will also be allowed to sue for compensatory damages. She is asking for $16 million in lost wages from being denied a promotion and fired from the firm in 2012. Punitive damages, however, are t …

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The ‘Queen of the Internet’ defends Kleiner Perkins in gender discrimination trial

2015-03-17T15:55:02-04:00

One catchphrase that keeps popping up in the Kleiner Perkins trial is "needed a win." Why was Ellen Pao denied a board seat? Kleiner patriarch John Doerr said the senior partner who got the gig "needed a win." "Kleiner needed a win. Everybody needed a win. I could use some wins," he added. If a billionaire venture capitalist like Doerr is aching for a win, just imagine how equal rights advocates in Silicon Valley - faced with platitudes about diversity, being called crazy, or deafening silence - feel. However, yesterday's testimony from Mary "Queen of the Internet" Meeker reinforced the sentiment that Pao's $16 million lawsuit may not be the …

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The assassination of Ellen Pao’s character by the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins

2015-03-13T10:28:14-04:00

To get a sense of how mercilessly Ellen Pao's testimony was excoriated this week, first you have to envision Lynne Hermle, the lead attorney representing Kleiner Perkins: picture Laura Linney from Primal Fear, but dripping with Paula Deen's Southern charm. (Hermle is actually from the Bay Area, but there's something unhurried and showy about her shtick.) As an employment lawyer for Orrick, she's defeated discrimination and sexual harassment claims against clients like IBM and AMD. Hermle is known around town for making her opponents throw up.
Pao, now the interim CEO of Reddit, is suing Kleiner, a well-known Silicon Valley venture capital fi …

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Ellen Pao is finally testifying at Silicon Valley’s trial of the year

2015-03-10T14:46:23-04:00

For the past two weeks, Ellen Pao has been sitting quietly at the plaintiff's table while her former colleagues at Kleiner Perkins have painted her as a prickly careerist, ill-equipped for the high-stakes sausagefest of venture capital financing in Silicon Valley. Yesterday, at long last, it was Pao's turn to speak. She has not disappointed.

Pao is now the CEO of Reddit. She is suing the venture capital firm for $16 million in damages, alleging gender discrimination and retaliation by Ajit Nazre, a Kleiner investor who was fired in 2012 for sexual harassment.

The self-assured woman who initially took the stand - quick with a smile, confident …

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