When Chicago attorney Ashley Ogedegbe left her old job in October 2022 to join McDermott Will & Emery, she believed she was stepping into a “warm, welcoming and collaborative” environment. But according to a lawsuit she’s now filed, that promise quickly unraveled, and her experience turned into what she describes as an openly hostile, racially charged workplace.
“Unfortunately, however, this congenial work environment was not available to Black lawyers and particularly Black women,” her complaint says.
As the Atlanta Black Star reports, from her very first day, Ogedegbe claims, the warning signs were there. During an office tour, a Black receptionist reportedly told her, “Black women don’t last at the firm.” Over the months that followed, she says, the comment proved disturbingly accurate.
Exactly as I expected. They made a Florida lawyer move to Chicago because it looked awful to clients for them to have no Black lawyers in Chicago. Then they didn’t staff her on cases after using her to pitch diversity to new clients. pic.twitter.com/8iaTIABL2Z
— Fly Sistah 🪷 (@Fly_Sistah) August 10, 2025
One of the earliest red flags, she alleges, came at an associate retreat in November 2022. A diversity and inclusion program led by a Black woman invited participants to answer prompts like “What do you hide about yourself at work?” and “What are you most proud of?” The responses, displayed anonymously on a large screen, included messages such as “white pride,” “white skin,” “white power,” and “Nazism.”
“The fact that these comments were made is abhorrent in itself, but even more so because they were made at a diversity and inclusion program – a blatant attempt to threaten and intimidate a disproportionately minority audience. Indeed, the Associates hid behind their ability to post these statements anonymously,” the lawsuit states.
Ogedegbe says the firm took “virtually nothing” in response. No training, no real follow-up. When a colleague pushed for a formal apology and internal investigation, that colleague was allegedly told to drop the subject, and was soon fired. The diversity committee, Ogedegbe claims, avoided making a written statement, fearing it might leak to legal blog Above the Law.
McDermott later said its chairman had condemned the remarks the next day, but Ogedegbe’s suit questions whether that happened at all, and if it did, she says, it was in “a nonmandatory meeting that was poorly attended.”
She also describes other incidents that mentioned her feeling of being undervalued and sidelined. After she was tasked with writing and publishing an article, she says the credit went instead to another Nigerian associate in a different state. “There is no more egregious example of the ‘all Black people are the same’ attitude at the Firm than this,” her lawsuit reads.
In other cases, Ogedegbe alleges, her work was used to benefit white colleagues who then botched assignments so badly she had to quietly fix them, without recognition. Once, she says, she was told she would have to be the “fall person” for a white partner’s mistakes. Despite this, the suit says her performance reviews remained stellar, with over two dozen positive evaluations. Yet she claims she was consistently excluded from key meetings, trainings, and client opportunities, and her work was often taken or attributed to others.
The breaking point came in fall 2024, when she reported another discriminatory incident to a colleague and then to HR. After that, Ogedegbe alleges, she was pulled from projects, given poor (and fabricated) feedback, and even blocked from joining an initiative by a colleague who had often recruited her before.
“Ultimately, in March 2025, Ms. Ogedegbe was unceremoniously terminated in retaliation for engaging in protected activity. The Partners that Ms. Ogedegbe worked for most frequently were not even notified about the decision to terminate her,” the complaint says.
Her lawsuit accuses the firm of civil rights violations, unlawful employment practices, and discrimination based on race. She’s seeking punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and reinstatement.
I recall being told over the phone my credentials are what they were looking for & they were eager to get me in for an interview as a “formality”. Showed up in all my Black girl professionalism & they took one look at me & told me it was filled. A white woman got the job
— THEE Kathy Sandru (@SandruSom) June 29, 2023
The filing also paints a bleak picture of the firm’s diversity record: out of 700 partners, just 22 are Black, and only nine are Black women. The leadership team is almost entirely white, with the sole Black member serving as Head of Diversity.
“In reality, the Firm wanted Ms. Ogedegbe in Chicago because it had no Black female attorneys in Chicago, which was hurting its recruitment and client development efforts,” the suit alleges. “To that end, Ms. Ogedegbe was included in client pitches to help the Firm appear diverse but then given no work when the Firm was retained.”
