A racial discrimination lawsuit filed by a Black former associate against one of the country's largest law firms has come to a quiet close, with attorneys for both sides filing a joint dismissal in Chicago federal court. Ashley Ogedegbe, who worked as a digital health associate at McDermott Will & Emery before the firm's 2025 merger, had accused the firm of what her complaint called egregious and open racism, including a firm retreat where participants reportedly answered white pride, white skin and white power when asked what they were proud of at work.
According to Reuters, attorneys for McDermott Will & Schulte and Ogedegbe filed the joint dismissal, ending the case by agreement of the parties. Michael Willemin, Ogedegbe's lawyer at Wigdor LLP, said the parties were pleased to reach a resolution and said his firm was proud of its record litigating workplace discrimination and retaliation cases. McDermott did not respond to Reuters's request for comment on the dismissal.
Ogedegbe was hired by McDermott Will & Emery as a digital health associate in 2022, and on her first day at the firm's Chicago office, a Black receptionist who gave her a tour after Human Resources failed to show up warned her that Black women don't last at the firm, according to the original complaint detailed by Wigdor LLP. That early warning became a recurring theme in the 34-page federal complaint she filed on July 30, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which asserted claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Illinois Human Rights Act and the Florida Civil Rights Act.
The Retreat Comments and the Firm's Response
Ogedegbe's lawsuit alleged that, at a firm retreat event, participants were asked what they were proud of and what they hid about themselves at work; the responses included white pride, white skin, white power and nazism. McDermott described the comments as anonymous hate speech and outlined its response.
The lawsuit also said Black lawyers at McDermott are regularly disregarded when not being used to promote the firm's diversity, and Ogedegbe alleged she was excluded from work and training opportunities because of her race. She said she was removed from a Louisiana hospital deal, then complained internally about the change. Ogedegbe alleged the firm retaliated against her after that complaint, and McDermott terminated her in March 2025 — she sued four months later, two days before McDermott Will & Emery completed its planned merger with Schulte Roth & Zabel.
A Merger, and a Firm's Scale
That merger, finalized on August 1, 2025, created McDermott Will & Schulte, a combined firm with more than 1,750 attorneys across more than 20 global offices and roughly $3 billion in annual revenue, according to the Global Legal Post. Ogedegbe's complaint alleged racial discrimination at McDermott.
A Pattern Beyond One Lawsuit
Ogedegbe's case was not the only discrimination claim to hit the newly merged firm. In April 2026, an anonymous 38-year-old Black female senior associate who had worked in McDermott's labor and employment practice group since February 2021 filed a separate racial discrimination lawsuit against McDermott Will & Schulte in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging she was repeatedly passed over for partnership and retaliated against, according to the ABA Journal.
The Firm Behind the Lawsuit
Wigdor LLP, the plaintiff firm representing Ogedegbe, has simultaneously pursued other high-profile BigLaw discrimination suits, including a federal pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against global law firm DLA Piper, which Hoodline has previously reported. The terms of the joint dismissal in Ogedegbe's case remain confidential, and McDermott has not issued a new public statement addressing the resolution.
