Lawyer Defends Gender Bias Probe at Silicon Valley Firm

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An attorney hired by one of Silicon Valley's most prestigious venture capital firms to investigate a complaint of gender discrimination defended his efforts on Friday, saying the alleged bias was not substantiated.

Stephen Hirschfeld testified for a second day in the case filed by Ellen Pao against Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

He had been hired by the firm to investigate a gender discrimination complaint by Pao and a sexual harassment claim by Trae Vassallo, another female employee at the firm.

Therese Lawless, an attorney for Pao, questioned why Hirschfeld did not review a female employee's analysis of the performance of men and women at the firm and interview a male colleague whom Pao said had retaliated against her when she broke off their affair during his probe of Pao's complaint.

Hirschfeld replied that he had gathered the information he needed and the colleague lacked credibility.

"I will never do more than I deem necessary and appropriate to arrive at a conclusion,'' he said.

Kleiner Perkins has denied wrongdoing and says Pao, 45, didn't get along with her colleagues - a requirement for the junior partner position she accepted in 2010.

Pao's lawsuit describes the firm as an old-boys club where women were excluded from parties at former Vice President Al Gore's house, asked to take notes at a meeting like secretaries, and subjected to harassment and boorish behavior by their male colleagues such as a conversation about porn stars and a trip to the Playboy Mansion aboard a private jet.

The case has put a spotlight on the gender inequities in the venture capital and technology sectors, where women are grossly underrepresented.

Hirschfeld previously testified that he had a conversation with John Doerr, a senior partner at the firm, while investigating Vassallo's complaint.

Vassallo alleged a male colleague had come to her hotel room in a bathrobe during a business trip and that she had to push him out.

Doerr told Hirschfeld that Pao had a "female chip'' on her shoulder and tended to blame others for her failed romantic relationships, Hirschfeld testified.

Doerr also said another partner's decision to ask Pao and Vassallo to take notes at a meeting was wrong and looked bad, though he didn't think the partner was discriminating against women.

Pao might not take the stand until Monday.

Doerr has testified that he didn't recall telling Hirschfeld that Pao had a female chip on her shoulder.

He has also disputed Pao's contention that she was passed over for a promotion because she was a woman and then fired in 2012 after she complained.