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Ellen Pao is accusing her former employer, the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, of gender discrimination and retaliation. Today, in one of the most anticipated days of testimony, Kleiner Perkins leader John Doerr took the stand.
So far, in a trial where just about everyone looks bad, Doerr had somehow managed a glowingly positive profile in absentia. His current and former colleagues describe him as supportive of Pao and of women in general, who are woefully underrepresented in the powerful world of venture capital.
But the issues at stake are not whether Doerr was well-intentioned, but whether Pao and other women were systematically treated unfairly, so his actual testimony was key.
Pao’s legal team, which called Doerr to the stand, said it expected him to testify for seven hours — in court time, that would span into Wednesday. So far their time estimates have been much more optimistic than realistic.
Liz Gannes and Nellie Bowles were here in court, as they have been throughout the trial, and brought you live coverage.
Below, Doerr addressed a wide range of issues, from why Pao didn’t get the RPX board seat (Randy Komisar did) to what he recalls from his conversation with the independent sexual harassment investigator Kleiner Perkins hired (not much). He addressed emails he’d sent discussing whether to hire women in terms of their reproductive potential, and he talked about his handling of Pao’s complaints around senior partner Ajit Nazre.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
