Lawyers who work in-house at companies tend to fit in pretty well with their organisations’ culture. Spotify’s general counsel, Petra Hansson, who I interviewed once, loves 50s jazz and spent much of her spare time at university organising music festivals.
Several members of the legal team at British American Tobacco (pictured), which I have also had the pleasure of profiling, are committed smokers.
Meanwhile, the lawyers at BAE Systems, who I have visited in a journalistic capacity too, are always trying to slip you a tenner in return for a favour. Joke. JOKE!
And now comes a suggestion that the lawyers at model agency Elite are as superficial and ruthless as you’d expect people who work in the fashion industry to be….
According to model Ananda Marchildon, who is suing Elite for unfair dismissal, an in-house lawyer at the model agency told her she was sacked because “although she has a nice face, she has a fat arse” and that “she never had it in her to become a top model because she was unsuitable for catwalk work”.
Elite is contesting the claim. Wikke Koostra, a lawyer for the agency, told the Telegraph:
“It was impossible for Elite to find [Miss Marchildon] modelling jobs since she wasn’t in the required shape.
“Couture clothing is made in one size only: (très très) petite. This is not something agencies can change.
“I imagine they would welcome such a change since it would make their job so much easier … but it is not in their power to change what the market dictates.”
A judgment is expected next month