Tracey A. Kennedy 

As a partner and trial attorney in Sheppard Mullin’s labor and employment practice group in Los Angeles, Tracey Kennedy has watched the pendulum of public sympathy swing back and forth during and after the #MeToo movement — from horrified reactions to Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein to more complicated responses to Johnny Depp and Laura Kipnis.

“I endorse that movement, and I think it’s important,” she said, “but you only hear on the news the most sensational cases.”

“I think the pendulum on all these things swings back and forth a lot,” Kennedy continued. As she discusses the difficulties encountered when trying to disprove allegations, she notes that “the truth is [often] somewhere in the middle.”

At the end of a case likely influenced by the #MeToo movement, Kennedy obtained a complete defense verdict on behalf of the University of Southern California in a jury trial for sexual assault, harassment and retaliation, in which the plaintiff sued USC for nearly $60 million.

The plaintiff was a cardiology resident and fellow who accused another cardiology fellow of sexual assault and then sued the alleged perpetrator, along with USC and her employer, the County of Los Angeles, for retaliation regarding education and employment opportunities. While the jury found against the individual defendant, it found in favor of USC and the County of Los Angeles on all causes of action.

“They did get a verdict against Dr. Cortes for $12 million,” she said.

Even after thirty years of representing clients in harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination cases, Kennedy says the cases never fail to surprise her with their twists and turns. “For every employment case, I keep thinking I’m jaded, that I know what’s going on, and I’m surprised every single time,” she said. “It just gets crazier and crazier every single year. … I really love trying employment cases.”

—Kathryn Stelmach Artuso