A marketing firm is hiring 3 new employees. Their job duties entail developing new marketing plans and to appear at certain promotional events. After all the candidates are interviewed, the marketing firm selects 2 men and 1 woman. All three candidates are shown to have equal qualifications, but the firm decides to higher only those employees who are under the age of 30, citing that younger employees are more energetic. It turns out that there were several candidates that were between the ages of 45 and 57 and they all had over 20 years of experience. They bring a claim against the marketing firm.

If you were representing the marketing firm as their attorney, what defense do you think could be used to either mitigate their damages or reduce their chances of liability? Remember that this type of action is only civil and not criminal.