It was near the end of 2002 when associates Elizabeth L. Riles and Karine Bohbot got the news. The principals at the employment firm where both women worked were parting ways.
It was a startling development. Bohbot had just bought a home and was coming off maternity leave. Riles had left then-San Francisco powerhouse Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, LLP a year earlier and was acclimating to life at the small, plaintiffs... (continued)
