Former Dovetail in-house lawyer Bethany Lo Russo has discontinued proceedings against the company’s cofounder, Benjamin Humphrey, over sexual harassment allegations, after the matter was resolved out of court.
The case involved a four-month sexual relationship between the two in early 2022.
Lo Russo, who joined the software scaleup in January 2022, after five years at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, commenced Federal Court proceedings for harassment and discrimination against both Humphrey and the company in late 2024, under the Australian Human Rights Commission Act.
She alleged the relationship, around the time the startup turned five and was valued at nearly $1 billion, was non-consensual, that Dovetail failed to provide a safe working environment, and that she was discriminated against, and victimised after complaining.
Lo Russo was a new employee on probation for her role at the time.
Dovetail initially applied for interim suppression orders as the case got underway in early 2025, before dropping the application. A subsequent application to dismiss the matter was also rejected.
Humphrey and Dovetail consistently denied the allegations, with the cofounder saying he believed the relationship was consensual.
A notice of discontinuance on the 18-month case was filed on July 17, a formality after the out of court settlement. Not details on what the settlement involved were revealed
A three-week hearing was scheduled for October.
Lo Russo, who went on unpaid leave from the business in February 2024, also submitted a complaint to SafeWork NSW. But neither her legal team, nor the complainant, were contacted by the regulator in response.
Her lawyers also submitted a notice of concern to Dovetail in March 2024, requesting a formal investigation into what happened. She says that did not occur.
Human rights claim
Lo Russo then took her claim to the Australian Human Rights Commission in July 2024, but conciliation failed, and the matter proceeded to court.
“Having dedicated my studies and career to law, I always pictured myself in Federal Court for different reasons,” she said in a LinkedIn post after the case was filed.
“No person should have to choose between their job and their safety,” Lo Russo wrote, adding that hearing about the experiences of others made her realise “that this is not just about me”.
GoFundMe support
Last year, friends and family of Bethany Lo Russo launched a GoFundMe campaign to support her legal action.
The campaign explained: “As Beth’s legal team have said, it’s about ‘control, coercion, abuse of power, personal violation, and a culture that enabled and celebrated the conditions that led to this’,” revealing that she had been on medical leave since 2024, battling symptoms of PTSD, depression and anxiety.
“She has lost so much, her livelihood, her career, her colleagues, her sense of identity and purpose. We’ve seen her struggle to pay bills, be forced to leave her rental apartment, and sell clothes to feed herself. We’ve seen her break apart and put herself back together time and time again,” the campaign said.
At that stage, her legal fees had exceeded $200,000.
The GoFundMe raised $21,000 towards a $100,000 target. Today donations were paused.
In a statement on the GoFundMe page posted on July 20, the organisers said Lo Russo can now “focus on her healing journey”.
“Beth greatly appreciates your kindness, generosity and support over the last few years. Your donations were used by Beth to progress the Federal Court proceedings. An earlier resolution means that Beth does not need to incur significant additional time and costs,” the statement said.
Regret and disappointment
Humphrey posted a statement titled “About that case”, on his personal blog last Friday, saying he regretted the impact of the court case on his family, friends and colleagues.
“I have always strongly denied and continue to deny the allegations that Ms Lo Russo made against me and Dovetail. I deny that myself, our team, or our investors did anything wrong,” he wrote.
“‘Over the last two years we have filed evidence as part of our defence and I’m disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to present that evidence in court.”
The Dovetail CEO took aim at media coverage.
“Most of these articles have been one-sided and highly selective in their quoting from court filings while a minority included snippets of our defence,” he wrote.
“Contrary to some reporting, there have never been issues regarding company governance, board composition, or how we handled the matter at the time or since.”
The end of the case means that none of the completing claims on either side will be tested in court.
While Startup Daily made inquiries into the matter in February 2025, we decided against publishing the allegations, defence denials and counter-claims in affidavits filed with the Federal Court.
They painted a picture of party-hard, alcohol-fuelled culture, including tropical island retreats and casino visits.
‘An error of judgment’
In a statement from that period, Benjamin Humphrey told Startup Daily he was “mindful of managing the conflict of interest” from the office relationship.
“I disclosed our relationship to my co-founder and our investors, and the existence of our relationship was common knowledge in the business back in 2022,” he said in February 2025.
“I acknowledge that in my position, getting into a relationship with someone at work was an error of judgement. However, I do not believe I did anything illegal.”
The intimate relationship reportedly ended in early June, 2022.
Key VC investor Blackbird confirmed to Startup Daily during that period that “a group of investors were notified of a personal relationship between the CEO and an employee” in February 2022 and by July of that year “were informed that the relationship had ended amicably”.
“There was no further communication or complaint about this issue by any party until legal proceedings were commenced,” the VC’s spokesperson said in early 2025.
“Blackbird has strongly encouraged the company to offer support to the complainant and come to an appropriate resolution to the matter.”
In Friday’s response, after the matter was discontinued, Humphrey said Dovetail’s investors were kept informed throughout and were supportive of its defence.
“We are a private company that employs good, reasonable people. We have always followed the law and tried to do the right thing at every step of the way,” he wrote.
“The future at Dovetail is bright and I am looking forward to moving on from these events.”
The company and Humphrey declined to comment further on the matter.
Dovetail values
Today the former Atlassian product designer released a 75-page manifesto on Dovetail’s culture, titled “By default”, described as “A practical guide to how we work and win together”.
“Dovetail has continued to ‘sail on’ through both calm and rough waters because Brad and I, the management team, and the team at large have invested a lot of intentional time and thought into building a resilient culture that can continue in spite of constant change,” he writes.
“It’s our culture that allows us to succeed even when everything else is in flux. This is not by accident – it is an intentional investment in a set of values, rules, norms, and style that is prescribed to everyone at Dovetail, widely understood and memorized (sic), and consistently reinforced as an expectation so we’re all on the same page.”
It features five values, including “If we do it, we nail it”; “Stay humble” and “Open by default”.
Bethany Lo Russo has resigned as an employee of Dovetail.
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