One hotel chain is learning that lesson the hard way. An operations director who was responsible for several Heartland Inns of America chains promoted a woman to a full time day shift position on one of the hotel’s front desks. After having met Brenna Lewis, the one promoted, she rescinded the offer and told the hotel manager she lacked the “Midwestern girl look” and that she did not have the “prettiness” necessary for the front desk. Naturally, Lewis was more than upset; after all, she had already received the promotion. When Lewis questioned the demotion, she was fired. She sued under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Her lawyers successfully proved their client did not need to show evidence that men were treated the same or differently, but instead, gender stereotyping was sufficient to establish the claim of discrimination. Her attorney produced the right evidence that was reasonable in that a jury could infer her demotion and eventual discharge was because of her sex.

In a time when the economy is still attempting to recover and people are finally beginning to pick up the pieces of their lives and careers, cases such as these are important, says A. Harrison Barnes. “People want to know their jobs are due to their skills, experience and abilities, not whether they have the right level of attractiveness” says the LegalAuthority.com founder. He continues, “This case highlights the discrimination that unfortunately still exists in the American employment sector”.

Legal careers are made on cases such as these and the team Lewis chose successfully made sure her voice was heard. As a result, the plaintiff in this case can move forward in her career knowing her level of experience and abilities will determine how far she advances in her career. The confidence she surely gained will serve her well and the knowledge that she played a significant role in the way others will be promoted should give her reason to stand tall and remain true to her beliefs. And this, says Barnes, is what the legal profession is – and always has been – about.

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A. Harrison Barnes, who owns LegalAuthority.com, says that the first benefit of choosing a career with the government is that government jobs are most often secure. One doesn’t need to worry about losing the job during tough circumstances. There are many attorneys who practice their entire career working as the government attorney. They face a little prospect of a layoff even at bad economic conditions. It is difficult to get fired from the government attorney jobs regardless of the status of the economy.

The second advantage according to A. Harrison Barnes is that the government attorneys are very friendly with one other. They even share a brotherly feeling. This is because they do not compete with each other to bill hours. The government attorneys often get closer to each other, and they can easily work side by side for several decades. They do not face the economic and billing pressures of a private law firm or even the economic uncertainty of many in-house positions. They do not compete with each other as aggressively as the lawyers of the private firm and thus can become close friends.

The work of an attorney working with the government is often very interesting. A lawyer of a private firm may work on high profile litigation once or twice or perhaps never in a law firm career. But many government attorneys at least spend a day or a week in court. The government lawyers who do not do the judicial proceeding work are involved in important policy making that has a national impact.

The fourth benefit according to A. Harrison Barnes is that the government attorneys receive training and obtain a skill set that helps them achieve appreciation on the eyes of the private legal employers. There are many attorneys who received training for decades as prosecutors before they returned to the private sectors as the partners of the private legal employers.

Fifth is that a government attorney can move further to an excellent career in a higher government post. The present federal judges were prosecutors at the state and federal levels in the beginning of their legal careers. The important cabinet positions in both federal and state governments are filled by government attorneys each year.

One cannot expect of private practice the type of benefits – the health care and retirement – that a government attorney gets after retirement. The government attorneys end their careers with sizable retirement benefits which not make them change their lifestyle at all.

But the government jobs are not preferred by all believes A. Harrison Barnes. Many lawyers do not wish to work with the government. It is because of the finances associated with the government job. Though there are many government lawyers that earn more than $100,000 a year and are able to live comfortably. Many government attorneys are contented souls for whom money is not the only objective. They simply enjoy practicing law with individuals who get along well and are on same wave length in a secured environment.

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