Baker & McKenzie Paralegal Fined for Disobeying Court Orders

A former Baker & McKenzie LLP paralegal of Russian descent is on the hook for $35,445 in attorneys’ fees after disobeying a trial judge’s order to substantiate her demand for $200 million in damages in a job bias suit, the Seventh Circuit said April 26.

Elena Stephens’s lawsuit claimed she was sexually harassed and mocked for her Russian accent and fired when she complained. She wanted millions in damages for alleged emotional distress. The trial court three times ordered her to produce therapy records, which she refused to do, according to the court’s per curiam, unpublished opinion.

Stephens only ...