The lawyers taking on Silicon Valley sexism: 'It's far worse than people know'

From Google to Uber, Silicon Valley's tech giants have a woman problem. Meet Lawless & Lawless, the sisters fighting back

On the wall of Lawless & Lawless's San Francisco office is a framed, full-page newspaper advert with a black background and just two words in white text: "Thanks Ellen". The ad, taken out in March 2015 in a Silicon Valley freesheet, referred to Ellen Pao, who had recently fought a $16m sexual discrimination suit against her former employer, venture capitalists Kleiner Perkins. Pao claimed she was passed over for promotion and excluded from meetings after she accused a senior partner of sexual harassment.

Although Pao lost the suit, coverage of the case shone a bright light on Silicon Valley's gender problem. More legal suits followed, this time against Facebook and Tesla. The common denominator? The lawyers representing the women: Therese and Barbara Lawless. The formidable sisters, who have been practising employment law together since the late 1980s, have become the go-to attorneys in the battle against what they describe as America's "wild west" of gender discrimination and sexual harassment.