I wasn't aware actually - what are the details (please leave a comment in reply, not for publication)?

Hi, thanks for highlighting and the information, I have made some discreet preliminary inquiries.

Without naming any names and going into detail, which are and should be confidential in any case at this point, I understand that no formal sexual harassment proceedings were started or are ongoing at the firm you referred to.

Also, for what it's worth and from what I can tell, I'm currently satisfied that the events relating to what you refer to have been dealt with in a fair manner so far, and there is no story here that should be reported by us at this point.

I understand that some may be reading this as evidence of a cover-up, either by us or the firm, or both, but all I can say for now on that front is that if there was a story that should be reported, I hope you can trust me to make the right call on that based on our previous reports relating to allegations of sexual harassment, and whether cases were formally filed or not.

That said, considering how sensitive and complicated such situations can be, and if facts available to me were to change, we would let you know and/or do a story if required. Likewise, if you or someone involved disagrees with my current assessment, we are always happy to talk in strict confidence, either on my usual phone number or email, while also respecting the person's wishes with respect to whether we can use the information given in a story or not.

Best,
Kian

Hi, thanks, have moderated parts of your comment, and will be keeping the name of the firm and parties confidential for obvious reasons.

Right now, there's not much I can do via comments though unless I get some additional information, preferably on the phone so we can have a proper and frank discussion.

In short, if you or someone else reading this (who knows what this is about) actually has preferably first-hand information that it has not been handled fairly, please give me a call anonymously on 0900 405 6651 and I will be happy to talk and discuss options for moving forward.

@Ariya - please also share a surname, if you have it, and I'll try independently reaching out.

But ultimately, in my experience, stories such as this one, if there even is a story, will be hard if not impossible to pursue unless an alleged complainant comes forward and talks to us, so in the meantime, I think I'll put a pin in it and wait.

No, haven't spoken to the alleged victim. If he/she or concerned friends would like me to investigate further, please share a name and contact number here (not for publication) or send me a personal email and I will follow it up further. But without the alleged victim speaking to me, there's not much I or anyone can (and should) realistically do.

Thank you Jatin for your insight.

Would appreciate some examples please re naming and shaming law schools in stories that are not stood up or corroborated yet in any way...

Thanks for your vote of confidence. However, I am rarely, if ever, 100% convinced of anything and there is always space for reasonable doubt.

Now it's possible that counter-comments left here are intended to troll me and/or the firm in question, or they could reflect genuinely-held beliefs, they could be based on a misunderstanding of the facts, or they could actually have some genuine inside information.

As I said, for now I'm leaning on the side of this not being a story, but I'm happy to keep an open mind if some other evidence should come to light.

Regarding your first years / senior partner question - yes, first years do get to interact with partners. While there is a hierarchy in law firms, but they are small places, and if you are working on a deal together or whatever, you will bump into each other at times.

As far as I know, yes, Delhi and Mumbai partnership pools have always been pretty independent, but they share joint expenses, branding, that kind of thing.

Ouch, what a zinger! :)

I believe, to the best of my knowledge though I'm not 100% on this, that they have a joint pool that they pay into to pay for things like joint branding, probably off-sites, and I would strongly assume, some common technology systems and the like such as email, document management, stationery, etc.

Again, this is not 100% confirmed, hence me having said "as far as I know", but the above would also make a lot of sense from a management perspective.

Do you know something different to that?

Lol, I wasn't sure about the terminology... Noted for future reference :)