Strip Club Summer Associate Outing?

// Firms expend a lot of time and energy planning an enticing social calendar for summer associates. Summer programs amount to the front lines in the legal talent war and while law students covet a rewarding professional experience, earning a reputation for giving law students an after-hours experience to remember pays dividends down the road.

And while “going to a strip club” certainly amounts to an experience to remember, it’s absolutely, positively not one the firm should offer.

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A Reddit thread claims that Gunderson Dettmer DID take summers to a strip club this year. And there’s some safe but maybe not advisable for work video. Though if you’re working from home these days, you’re all good.

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The discussion on Reddit questioned if this video really shows a strip club. It does seem like a strip club with a notable dearth of strippers. This appears to be some kind of straightforward nightclub that happens to have a couple of scantily clad go-go dancers.

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But quibbling over how asymptotically close a venue comes to a strip club is like debating how many angels can pole dance below the head of a pin. Lap dances and champagne rooms aren’t what makes a strip club an inappropriate work event. Hooters isn’t a strip club but wouldn’t make for an acceptable work event either. The problem is any establishment wrapped in more misogyny than clothes.

Gunderson has already deferred start dates and laid off associates, but the same Reddit thread suggests the firm no-offered about half its summers this year.

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Including, the thread suggests, the summer who complained to HR about the club trip! Not a great look.

We reached out to Gunderson for comment yesterday morning but heard nothing back. Presumably this wasn’t an officially sanctioned event, but rather some sort of afterparty where someone with a corporate card decided to take a few summers after the ball game or something. Not that it makes it any better: law firms need to educate their people that even these quasi-sanctioned events reflect upon the firm.

Next time, consider a trip to the art museum. There’s might still be barely dressed women, but it’s not a problem when they’re made out of marble.

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Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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Biglaw, Gunderson Dettmer, Sexism, Summer Associates