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EXPERT OPINION FEBRUARY 24, 2020 ¦ 47

the killing of Osama Bin Laden would lead to the
destruction of America.
Though the article’s author and the accused
Dentons partner have identical names and both
are British lawyers, Dentons says the partner has
denied writing the article. (RollOnFriday wrote its
own account of Dentons’ investigation Feb. 7.)
The upshot to all these mind-spinning charges?
Dentons is taking it seriously. So seriously that the
firm has hired a global (not local) firm to inves-
tigate the Riyadh office. In fact, Elliott Portnoy,
Dentons’ global chief executive officer, is person-
ally and directly involved in an investigation.
The firm issued this statement: “Promptly after
receiving an anonymous communication contain-
ing allegations against certain personnel in our
Saudi Arabia offices, we attempted to engage with
the anonymous sender and initiated an investiga- done about it—especially because polygamy is not
tion of the claims. Our efforts to engage with the illegal in Saudi Arabia. Of course, Dentons can
sender of the anonymous communications have make a big, bold statement and only hire men who
not been reciprocated. We take any allegation of seem more supportive of women in their private
violations of the law or Dentons Global Code of lives, but is that realistic? As one U.K.-trained law-
Conduct very seriously, and we have undertaken a yer of Pakistani origin located in Riyadh told me,
thorough investigation of the claims involving both “I’d say 50% of the partners here are polygamous.”
internal and external resources, which is ongoing.” Meanwhile, we’ll be waiting for the results of
Which leads to this intriguing question: How the investigation. I mean, who isn’t curious about
do you impose a global code of conduct on a firm whether Dentons is harboring a partner with
of 10,000 lawyers scattered over 70 countries? And terrorist sympathies?
can such far-flung offices with their distinct local Contact Vivia Chen at [email protected] or @law-
cultures be expected to abide by a uniform code? careerist.
While I am totally sympathetic to the women ¦

who voice concerns about working for men who Vivia Chen is a senior columnist at The American
practice polygamy, I’m not quite sure what can be Lawyer and the creator of The Careerist blog.

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