Law professor files age discrimination suit against Pitt

A Pitt law professor filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the University on… A Pitt law professor filed an age discrimination lawsuit against the University on Wednesday.

William Brown, 73, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He said that the University hired a younger professor instead of Brown for a tenured position.

Pitt spokesman John Fedele declined to comment, and said that Pitt does not comment on pending litigation.

Brown claimed in his civil complaint that with his hiring, the University “considered the fact that the median age of the Law School faculty had increased, and determined that this was a negative factor that needed to be addressed.”

Brown said in the complaint that he continually spoke with faculty about his interest in the tenured position, citing his experience in tax law, specifically mentioning that he received Pitt’s School of Law’s annual outstanding teaching award three times.

Brown and his attorney, Samuel Cordes, were not available for immediate comment.

Brown, a Yale Law School graduate, served as a law professor at Pitt for more than 25 years. He began his career at Pitt’s Schoo of Law in 1968 and received tenure after six months.

In 2000, Duquesne University’s business school hired Brown as the director of the Graduate Tax Program.

He returned to Pitt six years later to teach tax law and fill in for several professors taking a leave of absence. Brown’s complaint said he returned with “reason to believe” a tenure position would become available at the conclusion of the 2006-2007 academic year.

The complaint states that in 2009, Pitt hired a woman in her “early 30s” as a new tenure-track tax professor right out of graduate school and hired Brown as a part-time professor for the 2008-2009 academic year.

Brown seeks reinstatement to the Pitt faculty and unspecified compensation for lost wages and reimbursement for lost pension, social security and experience.

Pitt Law School must issue a response to the complaint before a court date is set.

In 2009, Brown also filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging age discrimination, according to the complaint.