Firm promotes lawyer after reprimand

Holland & Knight makes the lawyer chief operating partner just months after he was ordered to attend a sexual harassment seminar.

A Tampa lawyer has been promoted to the top ranks of Holland & Knight just months after an internal investigation recommended he be reprimanded for harassing young female colleagues.

Douglas A. Wright, 44, is now chief operating partner of the powerful 1,250-lawyer firm, a position that ranks third on the corporate ladder and puts him atop all business operations, including the firm's human resources department.

As the allegations surfaced, the firm also was dealing with the announced resignations of five partners, including its former executive partner John Phillips. Holland & Knight officials said the departures were not related to the Wright case.

Last year, nine female lawyers at Holland's Tampa office complained that Wright was a bully who constantly demeaned women with sexually suggestive comments, according to confidential company documents obtained by the St. Petersburg Times. According to the documents, he badgered the women with pointed questions about their sex lives, sometimes in front of other lawyers at the firm, and insisted that people feel his biceps or "pipes."

In an interview Monday night, Wright denied the allegations.

An internal committee investigated the accusations and concluded Wright had violated the law firm's sexual harassment policy. Managing partner Howell Melton referenced the committee's findings in a July memo to Wright and the four female lawyers who followed through on their complaints.

"I am not persuaded by all of the findings articulated in the report, but I am persuaded that, when viewed as a whole, (Wright's) actions were inappropriate and unacceptable," Melton wrote. "I find the reported conduct particularly objectionable in view of his position of leadership within the firm."

Two months later, Melton personally reprimanded the burly former University of Florida nose guard, as recommended by the internal committee. Wright recently attended a sexual harassment seminar along with dozens of other employees, another committee recommendation.

But Melton declined to remove him from the firm's selection committee for hiring summer associates and full-time associates, which also had been recommended by the internal investigation committee. Wright said Monday he had not had those duties for the past five years.

Wright's accusers felt the company's choice of discipline was severely inadequate. "This is not a case of four lone females making isolated complaints," they wrote in a stinging reply to Melton and the committee. "The aura of intimidation that Doug creates in this office still remains."

But Wright's stature in the firm would only grow. In a March 17 e-mail to Holland employees, Melton announced that Wright had been promoted.

In an interview late Monday in the law firm's 41st-floor conference room overlooking downtown Tampa, Wright strenuously defended his behavior.

"I unequivocally deny that I've engaged in sexual harassment with any person here and I don't think anyone has suggested I asked for any sexual favors or sexual relations with anyone in the firm," he said. "Furthermore, I don't believe I have engaged in sexual innuendo with subordinates."

As for asking colleagues to feel his "pipes," or biceps, Wright said he made the suggestion to men and women alike. "I treat them all the same," he said.

A married father of three, Wright has been with Holland his entire career. He joined the firm's Bradenton office in 1987, after graduating from law school at UF. Two years later, he moved to its Tampa office. Since 2002 he has worked in the firm's private wealth services group.

His alleged behavior came to light in December 2003.

Janis Schiff, a partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. office, was one of two people leading a "women's initiative meeting" for the Tampa staff. Silence greeted her when she said that Holland presented excellent opportunities for women.

When Schiff pressed the group to explain their silence, allegations about Wright and his "offensive conduct" poured out. He had commented on some women's hair, others' clothing, some women said. He asked detailed questions about junior lawyers' personal lives, including sex. On Monday, Wright denied discussing associates' sex lives with them, but according to the internal report he told the investigating committee that he may have asked personal questions or touched one female associate's clothing, but not in a "sexual" way.

An outside law firm was called in to investigate. An attempt to resolve the dispute failed. On April 5, nine female lawyers requested a formal internal investigation. Though five later dropped out, four went forward. Among the allegations, according to internal documents:

During her first week as a summer associate, Elizabeth Fite said Wright told her: "Stand up. Turn around in a circle. You look like the hostess in a Chinese restaurant." Fite said that after she rented a room from a male associate, Wright teased her that the roommate put Fite's panties on his head and Wright publicly wondered whether the two had sex. Fite left the firm in October. She declined to comment Monday.

Rachel Fugate said Wright once passed her in the hall and pestered her to feel his thigh. When she finally did, he reportedly patted his bottom and said it was much harder. "You cannot simply tell him "No' or to leave you alone," she said in the report. "If you do, his conduct and bullying only intensifies." Fugate said she learned to avoid contact with Wright.

Sarah Pellenbarg said she was a brand-new lawyer when she was placed two offices down from Wright. "When Eric (her boyfriend and now husband) was out of town, Doug would always insist that Eric was having an affair or visiting strip clubs," Pellenbarg told investigators. She is now on maternity leave from Holland's Boston office and could not be reached Monday.

Debra Deardourff said she had a number of run-ins with Wright, including one time when he allegedly said "your days are numbered here." "Many attorneys at (Holland's) Tampa office seem de-sensitized to Mr. Wright's conduct and comment, "That's just Doug,"' she told the committee. Deardourff remains at Holland's Tampa office but declined comment Monday.

Melton declined a request to be interviewed Monday. Instead, Holland officials e-mailed a statement. "The serious breach of confidentiality in providing the (committee) report to the press in this case is most troubling in that it undercuts the very purpose of the firm's policy to protect the true victims of sexual harassment as well as persons unfairly targeted with complaints," the firm wrote. "It also recklessly and unfairly impugns the reputation of one of the firm's finest partners who cannot defend himself without violating the policy he has pledged to uphold."

Separately on Monday, five Tampa partners, some of them heavy hitters, announced they were quitting the firm to join the Tampa office of competitor Phelps Dunbar.

Those leaving include Phillips, John D. Mullen, Dennis M. McClelland, Seth M. Schimmel and Karl J. Brandes. Also departing recently was longtime partner Michael L. Jamieson, who left a 40-year career at Holland to join Foley & Lardner.

Phillips said Monday the resignations were for unrelated reasons and praised Wright.

"I've worked with Doug my entire career," Phillips said. "He's an outstanding lawyer, he's an outstanding partner...He's been instrumental in the leadership aspects of this firm, and a lot of the positives that have occurred are under his leadership."

While denying any wrongdoing, Wright said late Monday: "I try to be careful when dealing with anybody now. I try to treat people with respect and be polite. And if you ask the rank and file lawyers about my relationship with them, my character, my integrity and how I treat them, you'll get a much different story than the one which has been provided."

--Scott Barancik can be reached at barancik@sptimes.com or 727 893-8751. Times staff reporters Louis Hau and Jeff Harrington and staff researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.

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