Timeline

1978

August - Price Waterhouse hired Hopkins as a manager
Around October and November, Hopkins had her first client at Price Waterhouse. She worked as the project manager on Project Integrity for the Bureau of Indian affairs for 4-5 months and continued to work with the Bureau until the end of 1979

1979

At the end of 1979, Hopkins volunteered to write the state department proposal of the Financial Management System FMS-1 for the United States Department of State, which she worked on from December 1979 until February 19, 1980

1980

Between February 19, 1980, and May 22, 1980, Hopkins worked on a litigation support project for law firm Crowell and Moring
May - Hopkins began work on FMS-1
Between the end of 1980 and beginning of 1981, Price Waterhouse promoted Ann Hopkins to senior manager

1981

Hopkins and the Price Waterhouse team began discussing the policy dilemma presented by her husband being a partner at another firm

1982

February - Hopkins finished her work on FMS-1
May - Tom Beyer informed Hopkins Office of Government Services would propose her for the upcoming partner cycle
Between March 22nd and 23rd, Krulwich informed Hopkins that the committee put her proposal on hold. Two weeks later Hopkins spoke with Beyer who informed her she "irritated" important partners

July - Hopkins went to St. Louis to work on a proposal for Farmers Home Administration which she worked on through August
November - Hopkins worked as the manager for the word processing center for the Office of Government Services

1983

Between April 4th and 5th Hopkins spoke with Joe Conner at the national office in New York to discuss the statistical characteristic of the long and short forms used in her partnership evaluation
April 19 - Partnership decision announced

Between May and June, Hopkins began discussing leaving Price Waterhouse with Don Epelbaum
Summer - Epelbaum advised Hopkins to exercise her options for leaving if they were still available
July 22 - Final partnership meeting where the partnership committee decided not to re-propose Hopkins
Between June 10th and 11th Hopkins spoke with Warder to discuss his view on her partnership candidacy/possibilities
Between August 3rd and 4th Hopkins learned Office of Government Services partners weren't going to re-propose her.

1984

1985

Hopkins v. Price Waterhouse, 618 F. Supp. 1109
United States District Court for the District of Columbia

Hopkins brought a suit under Title VII, asserting that Price Waterhouse decided not to make her a partner because of sex discrimination. The court dismissed her suit.

1986

Hopkins v. Price Waterhouse, 825 F.2d 458
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Hopkins appealed the decision of the 1985 case. The Court of Appeals ruled in her favor finding that Price Waterhouse had discriminated against her.

1988

Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228
Supreme Court of the United States

Upset with the Court of Appeal's decision, Price Waterhouse took the case to the Supreme Court, which held that Price Waterhouse had to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that its failure to make Hopkins a partner was not based on discrimination.

Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 1988 U.S. LEXIS 1184
Supreme Court of the United States

The petition for a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is granted.

1990

Hopkins v. Price Waterhouse, 737 F. Supp. 1202
United States District Court for the District of Columbia

The court re-evaluated Price Waterhouse's burden of proof, increasing the burden from a preponderance of evidence to clear and convincing evidence. Price Waterhouse failed to meet this new standard. As a result, the court ordered the firm to make Hopkins a partner.

Hopkins v. Price Waterhouse, 920 F.2d 967
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Price Waterhouse again challenged the court's ruling that found that Price Waterhouse discriminated against Hopkins, and that ordered them to make her a partner. The court upheld rulings.