A video of former Allen & Overy partner Tony Humphrey reading hard core porn out loud — as part of the sexual harassment case brought against the firm by former associate Deidre Dare — was placed on YouTube yesterday…
The clip was live for several hours before being removed around 5pm. It was filmed two months ago during the pre-trial deposition phase of the case, which is being heard in New York.
Humphrey, who is British, was responding to a request from Dare’s lawyer to read aloud from Confessions of a Bad Girl (Breaking the Rules), a book he apparently gave her. The aim of the exercise was to show the book’s erotic nature and how a partner giving it to an associate could indicate a pattern of sexual harassment.
Legal Cheek was lucky enough to view the video, and can report that Humphrey appeared uncomfortable throughout but was able to complete the required reading.
This second screenshot shows that an account in the name of “Deidre Dare” was behind the placement of the video into the public domain.
Intriguingly, in the text above a pledge is made to also make public the testimony of Allen & Overy global chief Wim Dejonghe. Dare did not respond to Legal Cheek‘s request for comment.
For the uninitiated, here is some very brief background to the case: Dare (whose real name is Deidre Clark) alleges that she was sexually harassed by Humphrey following a drunken, yet consensual, sexual encounter. Dare says that she repeatedly rejected Humphrey’s advances over the following months, at which point she claims that he used a raunchy online novel she was writing — distinct from the one featured above — as an excuse for firing her.
To what extent this latest development will affect the case remains to be seen.
Update 10:35: for legal reasons, this post has been amended to remove extracts of the text read by Humphrey.