Troutman Pepper has struck a deal to settle a federal race-discrimination lawsuit brought by a former Washington, D.C., associate, closing the book on a closely watched fight over how one of the country’s top firms treated a Black lawyer in its ranks.
The attorney, Tidi Sankano, alleged she was pushed out of the firm after speaking up about racially biased treatment. The settlement heads off a trial that had been shaping up as a public showdown over the firm’s internal culture.
In a joint filing in U.S. District Court in Washington, the parties told the judge the case was being dismissed with prejudice and that they had reached a settlement in principle. “Both we and Ms. Sankano are pleased that a settlement of this matter has been reached,” attorney Michael Willemin wrote, as reported by Reuters.
What the suit alleged
Sankano’s complaint, filed by plaintiff-side firm Wigdor LLP, said she joined Pepper Hamilton’s D.C. office in 2019 as the only Black attorney. According to the suit, a partner instructed her to keep billable hours out of the firm’s billing system and shut her out of associate trainings.
The court papers say she was fired in November 2023 after raising internal discrimination complaints. She sought at least $35 million in economic and punitive damages, according to documents posted by her counsel, Wigdor LLP.
Firm response and court fight
Troutman Pepper has rejected Sankano’s narrative from the start, calling her claims meritless and insisting she was terminated for performance reasons. The firm moved to dismiss portions of the federal complaint, and the dispute appeared to be marching toward trial before word of the settlement surfaced, as reported by Law360.
Broader context
The case resonated beyond one firm’s partnership meetings. Sankano had also sued legal recruiter Major, Lindsey & Africa, accusing it of effectively blackballing her after she filed the discrimination suit. That separate recruiting case was later dropped.
Observers and legal journalists have cast Sankano’s allegations as part of a broader wave of litigation and scrutiny over how major law firms recruit, retain, and promote Black lawyers, reporting by Bloomberg Law noted.
Legal notes
A dismissal with prejudice means the suit is permanently closed and cannot be refiled. In these situations, settlement terms are typically confidential unless the parties decide to make them public.
That confidentiality can resolve the immediate dispute while cutting off the possibility of a public judicial ruling that might set precedent or flesh out a detailed court record on alleged systemic practices.
What happens next
The court still needs to enter final dismissal paperwork to formally close the case, but the filings indicate both sides are satisfied with the resolution.
Lawyers for the parties did not disclose the terms of the settlement in the joint filing and did not say whether it includes any non-disparagement or confidentiality clauses.
