CASE: Ann Hopkins - LEGAL CASE ANALYSIS

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CASE:  Ann Hopkins

  1. LEGAL CASE ANALYSIS

  1. Facts

Ann Hopkins was a mathematician, college professor, mathematical physicist and systems management consultant. She had earned a masters degree in mathematics in 1967 and had worked at Hollins College, IBM, as a consultant for NASA, and for the major accounting firm of Touche Ross. In August of 1978 she began working at Price Waterhouse (PW) as a manager in the Management Advisory Services (MAS) department of OGS.

PW was a professional partnership that specialized in auditing, tax, and management consulting services worldwide. In the 1980’s, in its 90 offices across the United States PW had 662 partners; there were approximately 2600 partners worldwide.

To become a partner at PW required going through a formal annual nomination and review process where subsequently there would be held a partnership-wide vote. Once attained, partnership was essentially a lifetime appointment. Partnership candidates in a particular year were called a class and a booklet was prepared for each class member. The booklets would include the formal application along with notes on counseling sessions, staff performance evaluations, partners' evaluations, rankings for the candidate in each of the evaluation categories, and comparative rankings of the class candidates. When the partners in a local office proposed a candidate to the admissions committee, the committee then invited every partner in the firm to submit written comments on each candidate. Partners who had significant and recent contact with a candidate submitted a long form evaluation; those with more limited contact used a short form. After meeting and reviewing all comments, the committee ultimately made recommendations on each candidate and forwarded these to the policy board. The policy board reviewed the admissions committee's recommendations and then voted on whether to include each candidate on a firm-wide partnership ballot, "hold" the candidate, or reject the candidate. Some candidates had been held because of concerns about their interpersonal skills. Approved candidates' names appeared on a ballot for partnership-wide election. For admission to partnership, two-thirds of the entire partnership had to approve a candidate.

Hopkins was assigned to four major projects in her tenure at PW. The first was for the Department of Interior. It consisted of two contracts worth approximately $200,000 each, one of which she later managed. The second client was the Department of State. Hopkins was in charge of developing a proposal, in competition with 11 other contractors that led ultimately to a State Department contract whose long term value to Price Waterhouse was $35 million. The third project was for the Department of Agriculture, a proposal valued at $2.5 million 42 for work for the Farmers Home Credit Administration. The fourth was also for the Department of State and involved implementing a worldwide real property management system, valued at $6 million.

Hopkins received both praise and criticism regarding her performance skills. At the Interior Department job she had her work praised as “outstanding” by an OGS partner, whereas a consultant stated that she screamed obscenities during a review. During the State Department project, Hopkins received a raise and a promotion. Other personnel and managers described her style as overbearing. She underwent a counseling session with a partner that reflected her choice of language and use of profanity. During the Farmers Home Credit Administration project, Hopkins received complaints from consultants including that she was “direct, abrupt, sometimes insensitive. And demeaning at times." Another partner stated that she "alienated almost everyone who worked on the project.” He suggested that Hopkins "may have overcompensated for being a woman." But he also said that "St. Louis would not have had a chance on the proposal without her help" and that she was "one of the brightest people he and met." During the second Department of State project Hopkins was praised for affecting positive change in a department and correcting ongoing problems.

In mid-1982, Thomas Beyer, the partner in charge of consulting services at OGS, told Hopkins that he would propose her as a partner in the admissions cycle about to begin. Beyer then had the first of a series of conversations with Hopkins about how she could improve her chances for partnership, and gave her advice about her hair, makeup, clothing, and jewelry. When Hopkins objected, stating she had no time, Beyer answered that Sandy Kinsey, another woman in OGS, managed to find the time.

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Hopkins was nominated for partnership in August of 1982. In the nominating proposal, OGS praised her “outstanding performance” and underlined her "key role" in connection with a large State Department project. No other 1982 candidate's record for securing major contracts was comparable. Hopkins had also billed more hours (2,442 hours in 1982 and 2,507 in 1988) than any other candidate and generated more business than any other candidate considered for partners in that year. The proposal strongly urged her admission to the partnership. The admissions committee then circulated long and short forms to all PW partners. Thirty-two partners, all male, ...

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