In her pleading filed with the NY State Supreme Court, Ms Parekh submitted that she was “repeatedly treated like nothing other than a sexual object by” Mr Delane and when she “raised complaints about this conduct to her supervisor and to Human Resources, she was simply told ‘do not discuss this with anyone else inside or outside the firm’”.

“In effect, Dentons attempted to silence Ms Parekh and prevent her from seeking outside advice or counsel.”

“Mr Delane may be a significant business generator in Dentons’ Venture Technology Group — he is treated like a partner at the firm — but that does not permit him to harass and demean women,” the pleading continued.

The misconduct Mr Delane is supposed to have undertaken included touching Ms Parekh’s legs, waist and buttocks, calling her at late hours and highly inappropriate times without work-related reasons, attempting to draw her into sexual conversations, kissing her face without consent at work events and making lewd comments to and at her.

It is unfortunately not surprising, Ms Parekh argued, that an environment had been created at the firm where Mr Delane had been “emboldened to sexually harass women and where complaints about his misconduct had been swept under the rug” rather than being dealt with appropriately.

She further alleged that she was just one of multiple women who had suffered harassment at the hands of the defendant.

According to her pleading, the firm was informed of the alleged harassment and spoke with numerous witnesses to the harassment, but subsequently directed those witnesses not to speak to anyone about the allegations.

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This was not surprising to Ms Parekh, as her “meeting with Human Resources made it clear that [the firm] was less concerned with addressing sexual harassment and more concerned with ensuring that Ms Parekh stopped talking about it”.

In suing both Mr Delane and Dentons, Ms Parekh’s pleading said she “hopes to send a message to not only Dentons, but to all law firms, that the legal profession must embrace women as equals and not treat them as objects. Moreover, the public — including Dentons’ wealthy corporate clients — should demand genuine leadership and accountability from the legal profession”.

Ms Parekh also disclosed, in her pleading, her intention to file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an action to be commenced in the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Following a request from Lawyers Weekly, Dentons provided the following statement: “Dentons has a robust Code of Conduct, which includes a discrimination and retaliation prevention policy and we are deeply troubled by the allegations against a non-lawyer employee, which are contrary to our values and culture of respect. We take any concern about discrimination or unfair treatment seriously.”

“The firm is committed to a workplace free from discrimination and harassment, and to fostering an inclusive and diverse culture. Upon first learning of the detailed allegations through threatened litigation, Dentons placed the individual who is the subject of these allegations on administrative leave while we continued an ongoing investigation. Upon conclusion of the investigation, we are committed to taking appropriate and additional action as necessary,” the statement continued.

“We are proud of the many women in global leadership positions in our firm, including the five women who sit on our 16-member US Board, and our industry leading commitment to diversity and inclusion.”