Ellen Pao lost her gender discrimination lawsuit against former employer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Friday. The closely watched trial has captivated Silicon Valley and served as a referendum on the challenges women have faced in the world of technology and business.
Live: Ellen Pao Loses on All Claims in Historic Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Kleiner Perkins
Time to hear from the people whose opinions really matter: The jury.
Vicki Behringer
The jury found for Kleiner on all four claims brought by Pao, after some initial confusion when the jurors were first polled. In an unusual gaffe, the jury had either miscounted or misunderstood the procedure and returned a verdict on the fourth claim, regarding Pao’s firing, by a vote of 8-4 in favor of Kleiner. A 9-3 vote is required for a verdict, and Judge Harold Kahn sent the jury back to resolve the issue. They returned after another hour with a complete verdict.
The grueling five-week trial revealed troubling aspects of the Kleiner workplace in particular and the world of venture capital in general. Pao’s side presented a situation where, as an associate of the firm, she was denied participation in potentially lucrative deals because she was a woman. Some meetings, for example, appeared to be exclusively male. Kleiner’s defense centered around Pao’s inconsistent work performance and what they suggested was an opportunistic lawsuit.
From earlier: Since we last liveblogged two days ago, the jury has asked questions that would seem to indicate an interest in Pao’s side of the story: They wanted to hear the transcript of former Kleiner Perkins partner Trae Vassallo’s testimony about being insulted when asked to take notes at a 2011 firm offsite, and any testimony about whether Doerr met with Ellen Pao to address her complaints about gender treatment around that same time. They wanted to hear any testimony about Pao’s 60-day somewhat informal performance plan instituted by Ted Schlein and Matt Murphy. And they wanted to hear the transcript of Schlein’s comments about Pao’s “genetic makeup” being incapable of nuance.
To recap, here’s our full coverage of the trial.
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This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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