White-collar defense lawyer Nancy Luque's long been known for tenaciously representing controversial clients such as convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard and, more recently, former Washington Teachers' Union official Gwendolyn Hemphill.
Though that fervor has won her acclaim from clients, it recently came back to haunt Luque, who not long ago was appointed co-chair of the white-collar practice at the D.C. office of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary.
Six DLA Piper support staffers lodged a formal grievance with D.C. managing partner Ann Ford on April 24, citing Luque's "erratic, unpredictable and turbulent behavior" as making them uncomfortable and creating "a hostile work environment," according to a copy of the letter obtained by Legal Times.
Former personal secretaries Gail Brosious and Mary Pasternack; secretaries Wendy Jo Scalley, Kim Ellis, and Christine Bragg; and mail-room employee Abdel Anouar signed the letter. The six did not return calls or declined comment. . . .
[T]he two-page letter claims "the secretaries along the hallway are unwillingly subjected to daily barrages of telephonic obscenity-laden screaming matches" coming from Luque's office. It also states that "secretaries who have worked directly for or in close proximity" to Luque previously complained to human resources and the only "solution has been to relocate the affected secretaries to other positions."