Dear Mr. Scheich:

I write in response to your comments made in connection with Marcus Baram’s ABC News article of January 18, 2007 entitled “Gay Lawyer: Firm Mistreated Me” regarding my discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against Sullivan & Cromwell LLP. Barum quotes you as saying that Sullivan & Cromwell is “far from prejudiced in any way,” and notes that you cite as evidence the fact that the Firm often buys a table at your organization’s fundraising dinner dance. You conclude: “I don't know Aaron Charney or the details of his case, but if I had to line up on one side or the other, I would have to line up with David H. Braff [an openly gay partner at the firm] and Sullivan Cromwell.”

I find the conviction with which you throw your support behind S&C and Braff remarkable and highly troubling. You do not know me, and you made no effort to contact me or to look into the specifics of my matter before reflexively coming out in support of S&C. This sort of blind deference to money and power – to people who buy tickets to your affairs – is precisely the kind of action that deters change and enables those with embedded institutional influence to continue to discriminate. Your comments are inconsistent with your organization’s policy statement, and you yourself are a disappointment to this member of the gay legal community. You should ask yourself how your actions comport with your organization’s mandate to educate the community regarding issues confronting gay attorneys.

As for your suggestion that one must either side with me or with Braff, again you are shockingly off the mark. Braff and I have never met. I do not doubt that he feels S&C has been good to him. But, it is fallacious and presumptuous to suggest that the remarks of one gay S&C partner that S&C has trotted out to the press are relevant to assessing the veracity of my allegations. Perhaps you should examine your own professional aspirations and financial motivations before casting aspersions on me. A cursory glace at the facts would also have served you well.

Very truly yours,

Aaron Brett Charney