Gerald Weber, an equity partner at Chicago-based law firm Gould & Ratner, alleged in an Illinois state court lawsuit that the firm cut his compensation in an attempt to force his retirement, then later retaliated against him.
Weber, 82, said the firm where he has been a 52-year equity partner owes him almost $300,000 after two years’ worth of unlawful pay cuts, according to a complaint filed Thursday in Cook County, Illinois, Circuit Court.
The lawsuit said the firm does not have a mandated retirement age, though according to the 2019 Gould & Ratner partnership agreement excerpted in the complaint, equity partners “should begin actively reducing their full-time role” at no later than 75, and begin to transfer work to younger attorneys.
The older partner’s compensation should be “concomitantly reduced” based on a set formula over a transition period of five to seven years, the agreement said.
Weber does not intend to fully retire but followed the agreement’s protocol for delegating work, according to the complaint. However, he claimed the firm continued to “have its cake and eat it too” by slashing his pay while still instructing him to meet billable hour and origination requirements applied to equity partners under 75. He claimed he consistently met and exceeded these targets.
When Weber voiced his concerns, Gould & Ratner and its management committee doubled down, barring him from speaking to certain clients and threatening him with termination, according to the complaint.
“The firm and Mr. Weber recently have disagreed as to the scope of Mr. Weber’s future role with the firm and the compensation for that role,” Gould & Ratner said in a statement provided by its attorney, Brian Sher of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. The statement called Weber’s claims “not well-founded.”
Timothy Hudson, the Tabet DiVito & Rothstein attorney representing Weber, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The case is Weber v. Gould & Ratner, Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, No. 2021-CH-05467.
For the plaintiff: Timothy Hudson of Tabet DiVito & Rothstein
For the defendant: Brian Sher of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
