LA’s largest law firm with celebrity clients releases dozens of emails in which top partners called judge ‘sugar***’, called female lawyers ‘c****’ and disparaged Jews after they defected to set up their own cabinet
- John Barber and Jeff Ranen left Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith last month
- They left to create a ‘compassionate’ company and took more than 100 colleagues with them
- But their emails often show them using racist, homophobic and sexist terms.
One of the nation’s largest law firms, with former celebrity clients like Kathy Griffin, has released a slew of emails showing two of their former partners regularly using racist, homophobic and misogynistic language.
Attorneys John Barber, 55, and Jeff Ranen, 45, said they left Los Angeles law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith last month to start their own ‘compassionate firm’ and would take up more than a hundred colleagues with them.
In a press frenzy, the lawyers described their old law firm as a profit-driven business where they were forced to compromise on their values, and said their new office would focus on “paying it to the following”.
The megacorporation then retaliated over the weekend, releasing emails between Barber and Ranen in which they repeatedly used inflammatory comments against women, blacks and Jews, and gay people, among others.
The emails, seen by the New York Post, date back 15 years and show a Superior Court judge called “Sugar T***” by Barber and several women called “c****” by Ranen.
The LA law firm where John Barber (left) and Jeff Ranen were once partners has released emails showing them repeatedly using despicable language for 15 years
When a lawyer asked for overtime in June 2012, Barber wrote: “Kill her by anal penetration”
The emails, seen by the New York Post, date back 15 years and show a Superior Court judge being called ‘Sugar T***’ by Barber
The disgraced couple also discussed turning down an Asian candidate for a job because of his alleged penis size and fired another candidate, saying, “How about someone who’s not Jewish .”
When a lawyer asked for overtime in June 2012, Barber wrote, “Kill her by anal penetration.”
In November 2012, Ranen emailed Barber noting another partner’s “huge t***”. This partner was one of the attorneys who followed the couple into their new firm, as reported by the Post.
Earlier that same year, Ranen wrote to Barber, “Gypsy is my new word to describe about half the minorities in California.”
When Barber learned in November 2013 that a colleague was upset over the frequent use of the N-word by a witness to the case, he replied, “Understood. Neither *****. Do not use.’ Barber would have spelled the full bond.
Barber used the full slur again in October 2012, and the partners also frequently used “f*****” and other anti-LGBT terms.
After the death of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests, Ranen emailed Barber saying, “The F****** looters came within a mile and a half. I can’t even imagine what it was like to live in Larchmont [Los Angeles] in 1992, when the savages decimated Koreatown.
When Barber learned in November 2013 that a colleague was upset over the frequent use of the N-word by a witness to the case, he replied, “Understood. Neither *****. Do not use’
LA’s top firm has previously represented celebrity clients like Salt Bae and Kathy Griffin
“The past 72 hours have been the most difficult of our lives as we have had to acknowledge and act on these emails,” Barber and Ranen said in a joint statement announcing their resignation from the new venture.
“We are ashamed of the words we wrote and deeply sorry.”
Barber and Ranen’s planned company, Barber Ranen, appears to have collapsed after their emails were published, with chief executive Tim Graves saying the remaining partners will form a new company.
DailyMail.com has contacted Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith for comment on this story.
Barber had spent more than 25 years in the business and Ranen had been there for 20.
The top firm in Los Angeles has more than 1,600 attorneys in offices around the world; he has previously represented celebrity clients such as Salt Bae and Kathy Griffin.
