Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom has been left red-faced after a blog written by two of its employees led to hundreds of Skadden staff voting in a poll to determine the firm's sexiest female associate, writes The American Lawyer.
On 4 February, Skadden Insider, a blog written by two anonymous firm employees, announced the winner of its week-long poll to decide the firm's "Hottest Female Associate".
Skadden of counsel Henry Baer, the firm's employment adviser, sent an email to all Skadden lawyers in the US on 7 February chastising the blog.
"Numerous attorneys at the firm have expressed their concern and, in some cases, embarrassment at such contests," wrote Baer, who said the competition was "inappropriate" and inconsistent with Skadden's "values and standards of behaviour".
Baer, a former head of Skadden's labour and employment practice, told The American Lawyer he sent the email after hearing about the contest from other lawyers at the firm. The contest featured photos of eight 'contestants', with the winner -a blonde litigator - picking up around 400 votes from Skadden staff.
Baer said the firm would not try to shut down the blog, commenting: "Most of what [Skadden Insider] has on there is not objectionable and we had no problem with it. I just think they crossed the line when they put these women's names and pictures on the blog without their permission."
The two employees who write Skadden Insider did not respond to an email request for comment. However, they did post a response to Baer's email on the blog, noting that pictures of the contestants were culled from publicly available sources including Facebook, MySpace and Skadden's own website. When one finalist asked that a photo submitted by a friend be removed, the bloggers complied.
"The contest, although sophomoric, was done all in good fun," the Skadden bloggers wrote. The also announced that nominations for "Hottest Male Associate", which was to have followed the women's contest, have been suspended.
The eight female finalists declined to comment.
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