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In the summer of 2008, with the country jittery over the spreading financial crisis, Sarah Martinez found herself among the unlucky crop of bright law school graduates whose big-firm job offers were deferred.

Now she's suing San Francisco's Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin, the firm that her lawyer says strung her along until past the point when she could have signed on with another big law firm.

Martinez's attorney, Kathleen Lucas, said Martinez's plight signals a larger problem. In fact, her San Francisco firm has been contacted by two other recent graduates who were put in a bind after firms rescinded their job offers.

"The issue really is this deferment -- they bring some of the people on, but not all of them," Lucas said. "How are they selected?"

Law students scooped up by big firms before their final year of law school typically stop interviewing. So when they're looking for a job a year out, they're especially disadvantaged, Lucas said.

Martinez alleges 11 causes of action in her complaint filed last week in San Francisco Superior Court, including discrimination on the basis of her gender and Mexican ancestry. She says even while her job offer was deferred, Howard Rice actively recruited and hired white associates, especially white male associates.

"The complaint is factually incorrect in a number of areas, and we don't think there's any merit to her claims," said John Buchanan, the marketing chief at Howard Rice. He declined to elaborate further beyond saying the firm was "disappointed that she felt it was necessary to file the suit."

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