NEW YORK, Oct 31 (Reuters) - A former staff attorney at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has sued the law firm in federal court, claiming that it discriminated against her because she is black.

In a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Kisshia Simmons-Grant alleged that while she was a staff attorney at Quinn Emanuel's New York office from 2006 to 2010 she received fewer and less-favored assignments than her white colleagues even though she was as qualified or more qualified to handle them. She also claimed that she was forced to work with an attorney whom she feared after she complained about the alleged racism.

The complaint asserts violations of federal, state and local civil-rights laws. Simmons-Grant seeks lost past and future earnings and compensation for mental anguish, in addition to punitive damages and attorneys' fees.

In an email, Quinn partner Robert Juman said, "We believe the claim to be frivolous, as subsequent proceedings will reveal."

Simmons-Grant, a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center who is now a solo practitioner in New York, asserted that Quinn's manager of staff attorneys "kept white staff attorneys constantly busy with projects" while she experienced several periods without work and therefore did not get paid. Staff attorneys at the firm, according to the complaint, were paid on an hourly basis for the work they performed.

She further alleged that she told Quinn's New York managing partner, Peter Calamari, about the alleged discrimination, but that he determined after speaking with the staff-attorney manager that there was no racial basis for the way assignments were given. Calamari was not immediately available for comment.

FEARED FOR SAFETY

After she complained about the problem, Simmons-Grant alleged, the firm retaliated against her by forcing her to work with another staff attorney, although she complained that she didn't feel safe with him. She asserted that the staff attorney "became enraged" at being assigned to work over a holiday weekend and that he physically threatened her. She asserted that she twice told managers that she didn't want to work with him, and that she had to quit after she was forced to do so.

Simmons-Grant declined to comment about the lawsuit. The Web site for her law firm, Simmons-Grant PLLC, states that she received a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and, following law school, worked as assistant chief counsel at the Department of Homeland Security. Her current practice focuses on immigration law.

Her attorney, James Halter, with Liddle & Robinson in New York, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The case is Simmons-Grant v. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, No. 11 CIV 7706, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

(Reporting by Leigh Jones)

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