Kelly M. Dermody

In February, Dermody and co-counsel filed a gender discrimination class action on behalf of current and former female employees of Sandia National Laboratories, a major defense installation managed under contract by a Lockheed Martin Corp. subsidiary for the U.S. Department of Energy. "It's early days, but I'm very proud of our clients," she said. "These are very experienced people, but it's never an easy thing to step forward." Kennicott v. Sandia National Laboratories, 1:17-cv-188 (D. N.M., filed Feb. 7, 2017).

Dermody recalled that her very first case at Lieff Cabraser in 1994 was one of the largest gender discrimination cases then to date: a class action alleging that The Home Depot Inc. kept women in low-paying menial jobs while giving men more chances for training, promotion and higher pay. Home Depot eventually settled for $87.5 million.

"I've been involved in these challenges in different industries from the start," she said. "They go in waves, and now there are groups of professional women coming forward."

Dermody also leads Lieff Cabraser's team representing current and former female technical employees in a gender discrimination class action against Microsoft Corp., one of the nation's largest employers of engineering talent. The suit alleges that Microsoft discriminates against women via its pay, promotion and performance evaluation systems, lacks accountability measures to ensure fairness, and maintains discriminatory policies despite knowledge of their effect. The case has so far survived multiple motions to dismiss; Dermody said she hopes to move for class certification in the next year. Moussouris v. Microsoft Corp., 1:15-cv-1483 (W.D. Wash., filed Sept. 16, 2015).

— John Roemer