If you've been following all of the coverage of this case, Pao isn't coming off well. In the worst case for her, Ellen Pao turns out to be like Michael Brown:

If you've been following all of the coverage of this case, Pao isn't coming off well. In the worst case for her, Ellen Pao turns out to be like Michael Brown: not sympathetic, not a victim, but the case still illustrates a lot of systemic bias and moral failure. (Not to say that is how it is playing out or will play out.) I think she probably did have her reputation (internal to the firm) damaged for reasons that constitute gender harassment. I also think that she was passed over and fired not because she was a woman, but because her reputation was damaged and she probably couldn't get much done. The question is how responsible the firm itself is for spotting problems like that and allowing people to clear their own names.