There are always two stories in every Big Trial: the case itself, with its conflicting sets of facts, and the wider narrative-the way those facts fit into the lives of millions of people outside the courtroom. This was especially apparent in a San Francisco court on Feb. 27. Ted Schlein, the ultra-marathon-running managing partner of the blue chip venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, was testifying about the seven-year employment of Ellen Pao, a 45-year-old former junior partner who alleges that her advancement at the firm was blunted by an atmosphere of pervasive sexism. Kleiner's lawyer asked: Hadn't Pao complained repeatedly about being directed to sit on the outer edge of the room instead of at the center table during key meetings? Schlein flatly dismissed the charge, noting that it was a woman from outside the firm who had set up the seating chart for a meeting where Pao felt slighted. Then he added: "I really don't think it was a very big deal to us who sits at a table or who does not."
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