Attorneys ousted from law firm they created last month after old emails surface

"Sorry, I forgot to write that we will not hire Jews," attorney Jeffrey Ranen wrote when his colleague John Barber suggested the name of someone who might be available for work as a contract attorney.

Another time, Ranen wrote: "gypsy is my new word to describe about half of the minorities in California. Generally with an Amo, Persian, or middle eastern flair. "

In emails dating back to 2012, the attorneys frequently used slurs for Blacks, gays and women, and commented on the bodies of female colleagues, opposing counsel and even a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge.

Barber and Ranen made a huge splash on May 2 when they left Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP with more than 120 attorneys to start a rival firm. Over the weekend, Lewis Brisbois released dozens of emails between Barber and Ranen, who led the firm's labor and employment practice.

The fallout was swift Monday, and Barber and Ranen resigned from the firm they founded just over a month before.

Timothy R. Graves, the chief executive officer of the BarberRanen law firm, released a statement that said Barber and Ranen had resigned and that the firm would be reconstituted with a new name.

"Effective immediately, the firm has requested and accepted the resignations of John Barber and Jeffrey Ranen. The remaining equity partners express their disappointment and disdain for the language Mr. Barber and Mr. Ranen used. We will form a new firm. We ask for the support of our friends and colleagues while we heal and plan our path forward," Graves wrote in a statement.

The New York Post first reported the existence of the emails, saying it received them from Lewis Brisbois. The Daily Journal obtained the emails on Monday.

In a statement, State Bar Board Chair Ruben Duran said, "Racist, sexist, homophobic, and antisemitic attitudes and language are damaging and abhorrent, perhaps most especially when demonstrated and used by the profession entrusted to uphold the law. The State Bar of California rejects this foul, disrespectful behavior in the strongest possible terms, and I am confident that our Office of Chief Trial Counsel will address this conduct to the extent allowable under current rules and statutes."

The State Bar can investigate based on a news report, said agency spokesman Rick Coca. He also noted that the bar has issued for public comment proposed rule amendments that would require attorneys to affirm their commitment to conduct themselves with civility, and make incivility a basis for discipline.

Barber and Ranen were wide-ranging in their targets.

On May 31, 2020, a few days after the death of George Floyd, Ranen emailed Barber, "Fucking looters came within a mile and a half. I can't even imagine what it was like living in Larchmont in 1992 when the savages decimated Koreatown."

In a statement, Rev. Al Sharpton called for the clients of BarberRanen to find new legal representation as soon as possible. "The racist language used by John Barber and Jeffrey Ranen over the past decade represent the epitome of vile hate speech and makes it clear these are two highly prejudiced individuals who don't belong anywhere near the halls of justice."

In an email thread between Ranen, Barber and a third attorney, Ranen asked which female attorney would accompany them on a business trip. "Just debating whether to spite bang her if we bump into each other," he wrote.

In a follow-up email, Ranen was advised by Barber to "be more careful" with what he wrote and shared with others.

Linda Miller Savitt of Ballard Rosenberg Golper & Savitt LLP, an opposing counsel who was referred to by Ranen as a misogynistic slur, reacted to the email releases by stating, "The only thing I would say is: very disappointing."

The judge the pair commented about, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Barbara M. Scheper, declined to comment through a court spokeswoman.

There was at least one other instance, in September 2017, when the men discussed not hiring Jewish people. When another colleague suggested hiring a private investigator who has a common Jewish name, Ranen responded: "How about someone who's not a Jew."

After counsel from another firm, Sassan Masserat, emailed Ranen on Jan. 13, 2014, asking Ranen not to email him on the Sabbath, Ranen forwarded the email to Barber. "This Jew is cracking me up. I almost ONLY write to him on Saturday mornings and EVERY Monday morning he sends me an email like this," Ranen wrote to Barber.

Informed of the email on Monday, Masserat responded: "Very disturbing."

In a phone conversation later, Masserat said he didn't recall much about the case that occurred nearly a decade ago. "I think if this is all true then they owe whoever they offended and hurt an apology, including myself."

Noting that he had just wrapped up a term on the board of the Anti-Defamation League, Masserat said he thought the men should consider engaging in a program with an organization like the ADL or with a rabbi "to get to the root of this problem and address it."

"That's what's necessary to make amends and to improve relations with other people," Masserat said.

According to a statement released by Lewis Brisbois management on Monday, an anonymous complaint concerning the behavior of the two attorneys was filed at the firm following their departure last month.

"In keeping with firm policies, the management committee immediately began an investigation and were shocked to find dozens of emails between John Barber and Jeff Ranen with unacceptable, prejudiced language aimed at our colleagues, clients, attorneys from other firms, and even judges," the firm wrote. "Though we are continuing to conduct a broader review of Barber and Ranen's behavior at the firm, including a full review of their correspondence -- as well as interviewing other employees who interacted with the pair -- because the lawyers in question are no longer with the firm, we are taking no disciplinary action at this time."

Lewis Brisbois redacted the names of some recipients of the emails but not others. A firm spokesperson said that "as part of a review into this matter Lewis Brisbois' management committee has brought on a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion consultant to advise us on the investigation and all company HR and harassment policies."

The emails were perhaps made more shocking by the fact that Barber and Ranen are defense-side employment attorneys who are well aware of the consequences of using such language. In fact, they brought up that fact in one of the emails.

On Dec. 11, 2015, Barber wrote to Ranen, "There is no NSFW for me. My average email would get someone fired."

The emails also include examples of attitudes or policies that could have brought employment lawsuits against Lewis Brisbois.

For example, on Oct. 13, 2022, Ranen forwarded to Barber and four other attorneys in the firm an email from a person he described as his "best junior associate." But he said if the labor market were better, he would fire the person, who objected to hazing of associates in the labor and employment practice. The associates were being forced to sing their school fight songs at office events and didn't want to attend.

"People join our group, learn that hazing exists and then become afraid to speak up or stick out," the junior associate's email stated, suggesting that eliminating it would help retain "good people."

Barber's response, using an expletive and typed in capital letters, was to say the junior associate is "everything that is wrong with US culture right now," that jhe didn't care if the person attended the holiday party, but would put to a vote the question of continued hazing.

Natasha R. Chesler, an employment attorney who has handled plaintiff's and defense work, was mentioned in an email Ranen sent to Barber, using graphic and misogynistic language about her after she had asked him about the reason for a change in a deposition date.

"I can't say I'm surprised, unfortunately. I've seen the ugly in what women and other minorities get called ... even in the employment law departments of large firms, the exact place this type of stuff should not be happening," Chesler said. "It's the idea of power and ego and too big to fail. They recognized that what they were doing would get someone fired, but not them.

"I think Lewis Brisbois releasing these emails raised a lot of good ethical questions and we should take all of this as an opportunity to decide who we want to be moving forward from this," she said. "I think it raises a good question why Lewis Brisbois chose to redact their internal attorneys' names but not mine or others outside their firm. But that's a question LB has to answer."

Editor in Chief David Houston and Associate Editor Laurinda Keys contributed to this report.