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Jeff Ranen (left) and John Barber had racist, sexist, misogynistic and anti-LGBT exchanges with one another, inner emails present.
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A pair of senior companions on the California-based mega-law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith cut up from the corporate final month to construct their very own “compassionate” firm, however inner emails present they used wildly offensive and demeaning language — repeatedly referring to girls as “c–ts” and a choose as “sugar t-ts.”
Many of the stunning missives — exchanged between John Barber, 55, and Jeff Ranen, 45, and obtained by The Post from the pair’s former firm — have been additionally racist or anti-LGBTQ.
Before the 2 labor legal professionals out of the blue defected in May and took more than 100 Lewis Brisbois staff with them, Barber spent greater than 25 years with the firm and Ranen labored there for 20.
Their rationale for leaving was to “build something that’s reflective of our values and our beliefs,” Barber told Above The Law.
“We wanted to lead with empathy, collaboration and compassion, to do it our way and not have any baggage,” Ranen told the Los Angeles Business Journal concerning the formation of Barber Ranen.
But emails from their time at Lewis Brisbois – which have been redacted to take away any particular shopper data earlier than being seen by the Post – increase critical questions concerning the virtue-signaling.
“Kill her by anal penetration,” Barber emailed Ranen in June 2012, reacting to an time beyond regulation request from one other Lewis Brisbois lawyer. On a minimum of three events, Ranen described feminine attorneys as “c–ts.”
In a March 2022 missive, a Los Angeles choose was described as “sugar t-ts.” when Barber joked about how the choose appreciated to be addressed.
In a November 2012 notice, Ranen famous to Barber that one other associate has “huge t–s.” That feminine associate has since decamped to Ranen and Barber’s new firm.
In November 2013, Barber was advised by a Lewis Brisbois associate that individuals have been upset throughout a mediation due to a witness’ frequent use of the N-word.
“She doesn’t want the word n—-r used in her presence. She claims it was used with great liberality, unnecessarily so… and she found it very offensive,” the associate emailed him.
Barber responded snidely. “Got it. N—r. Don’t use.” He spelled the slur out in full.
In October 2012 Barber responded to an e mail about attending a child bathe with the topic line “N—r” — once more spelled out in full.
On May 31, 2020 — simply days after the demise of George Floyd — Ranen emailed Barber, “F–king looters came within a mile and a half. I can’t even imagine what it was like living in Larchmont [Los Angeles] in 1992 when the savages decimated Koreatown.”
Barber responded: “Just to illustrate my enlightenment . . . As buildings burned within a mile or so that night, we had a party, got wasted, and yelled inappropriate things from the balcony.”
In June 2012, Ranen wrote to Barber, “Gypsy is my new word to describe about half of the minorities in California.”
The companions made frequent use of the phrase f—-t and different anti-LGBTQ slurs as properly.
“Don’t be a f—t,” Ranen responded to a associate testily in April 2015. “What’s this f—t’s problem,” he emailed one other colleague in November 2014, asking of a rival lawyer.
Barber and Ranen went on a crude forwards and backwards about an unnamed lawyer from Mintz, one other law-firm, in March 2008. In their trade they mocked his previous service within the Israeli Defense Forces.
“He’s a f-g. Israeli Defense Force hand-to-hand combat instructor? Yawn. I’ll kick his ass,” Barber wrote to Ranen.
Ranan replied, “his bio gave me a stiffy. Does that make me a homo?”
Later on Ranen made enjoyable of Barber for utilizing the expression “oh snap” — noting that he wasn’t certain if “that makes you more akin to a tween or a fudgepacker.”
Critics ripped the 2 males’s conduct and the firm’s hypocrisy.
“Though they may pretend to have founded their new firm in pursuit of ‘empathy and compassion,’ it is beyond any doubt that they are incapable of doing so,” civil rights activist Al Sharpton advised The Post. “I am calling on The State Bar of California to conduct a full review of their character and licenses to practice law. Though these emails alone are beyond sufficient to question Barber and Ranen’s integrity, it is easy to imagine they are just the tip of the iceberg of their intolerance toward communities of color, women and the LGBT community.”
Lewis Brisbois has greater than 1,600 attorneys working in places of work around the globe together with one on Water Street in downtown Manhattan.
A Diversity, Equity and Inclusion mission assertion on their web site touts the firm’s dedication to diversity hires.
In a press release to The Post, the corporate stated they have been “shocked” by the conduct of the previous companions and promised a probe:
“Following their departure from our firm, a criticism was lodged in opposition to John Barber and Jeff Ranen to a member of our administration committee. In maintaining with our firm’s insurance policies and our accountability to our personnel, an investigation was undertaken and the firm was shocked to discover dozens of emails between John Barber and Jeff Ranen containing extremely inappropriate and offensive content material.
“The firm is continuing to conduct a broader review of the behavior and conduct of John Barber and Jeff Ranen. We are deeply troubled by their use of prejudiced language and racial and cultural slurs aimed at colleagues, clients, attorneys from other firms, and even Judges,” the corporate stated.
Barber and Ranen didn’t return a number of messages in search of remark.
