What secondary authorities could you use to educate yourself on the topic of sexual orientation discrimination and harassment? Find at least two of these secondary legal authorities applicable in Ohio. detailed in describing how you found those secondary authorities and provide an overview of how you used those sources to guide your research and aid you in finding primary sources.

Are there any statutes in Ohio addressing the rights of a private-sector employee, who like your client, John Smith, feels he or she has been discriminated against or harassed in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation? Be sure to provide Bluebook-formatted legal citations and a detailed summary of what these statutes set forth.

Are there any local ordinances in your summit county addressing the rights of a private- sector employee, who like your client, John Smith, feels he or she has been discriminated against or harassed in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation? Be sure to Bluebook-formatted legal citations and a detailed summary of what these ordinances contain.

Describe in detail the approach you took to your research in answering Questions #2 and #3. How did you determine where to begin your search on this possibly unfamiliar area of law? In conducting your searches for state statutes and local ordinances, what legal databases and/or online sources did you use? What search terms did you use? If no statutes or ordinances were found in your Ohio, describe how you know you have conducted an exhaustive search.

case law involving employment discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation of a private-sector employee. What precedent cases exist in your state or Federal Circuit on sexual orientation discrimination and/or harassment in the workplace? For each case you found, provide Bluebook-formatted case citations and state the legal issue(s) and holding of each case. You do not have to provide a full brief of each case.

Whether or not you found any precedent cases at the state or federal level, describe in detail your research methods, computer research conducted, databases used, and search terms used in researching case law. If no state and/or federal cases were found, describe how you know you have conducted an exhaustive search.

Based on all of this, draft a extensive interoffice memorandum to your supervising attorney providing your analysis and conclusions as to the success of his case on the merits. (John Smith synopsys)

John Smith Synopsys -

Our firm has a new client, John Smith. John is a gay male who was hired by ABC Design as a Junior Designer on January 2, 2012. Mr. Smith remained a Junior Designer until January 20, 2014, when he was promoted to a Senior Designer position. He was then fired by ABC Design on July 28, 2015. At that time, ABC had 45 employees. Mr. Smith had received satisfactory or above satisfactory performance reviews for each of the three years he received reviews in January of 2013, 2014, and 2015. Mr. Smith had not been "out" at work until sometime in March, 2015, after he had wed his long-time partner, James, and had for the first time put a picture of himself and James in his cubicle from their February, 2015 wedding. After this, some of Mr. Smith's co-workers made derogatory comments on three separate occasions, including (1) referring to him as a "fairy" and a "fag" in the breakroom on two separation occasions, and (2) when walking by Mr. Smith's cubicle as he was working there, a co-worker asked another co-worker loudly "wonder who the wife is in that marriage," referring to Mr. Smith's wedding picture. Additionally, sometime after hours on June 23, 2015, someone ripped up Mr. Smith's wedding picture and left it on his desk, which Mr. Smith discovered when he came to work on June 24th. Mr. Smith reported each of these incidents to his supervisor, Jeremy Davis, within hours of their occurrence, but found out later that his supervisor did not report any of them to ABC's Office Manager, Charity Jones, who serves as the human resources professional for the company.

On July 28th, Mr. Smith was called into his supervisor's office and told that his employment was being terminated effective immediately due to a recent decline in the quality of his work and for a missed project deadline from earlier in July. Upon hearing the news, Mr. Smith stated that he believed he had been harassed by co-workers because of his sexual orientation and argued that the firing was unfair because he had not been told any of his work was unsatisfactory, that all his performance reviews to date had been satisfactory or above satisfactory, and he had received the promotion to Sr. Designer in early 2014. Additionally, Mr. Smith argued that the project deadline at issue had actually been changed by the client due to additions the client wanted at the last minute. Mr. Davis (the supervisor), denied that the termination was due to Mr. Smith's sexual orientation and restated that it was due to his work "slipping" and the missed project deadline. Ms. Jones (the Office Manager) was not present for all of this conversation between Mr. Smith and Mr. Davis, but came in at the end of the conversation and stated that Mr. Smith's firing was due to "performance issues" when Mr. Smith argued his points to her. Mr. Smith is seeking our assistance in determining the strength of a potential lawsuit against ABC Design for claims of hostile work environment, employment discrimination, and wrongful discharge. Please research potential legal claims Mr. Smith might have in our jurisdiction and draft a memo to me outlining your research findings and your conclusions regarding the strength of his case if we were to pursue litigation on Mr. Smith's behalf