Silicon Valley rocked by gender bias case

Lawyers in a high-profile gender bias lawsuit against a giant Silicon Valley firm argued the woman behind the case was either an accomplished junior partner who was passed over for a promotion because of discrimination or a failure who sued to get a big payout as she was being shown the door.

The attorneys presented the contrasting portraits of Ellen Pao in their closing arguments before a packed courtroom in the case against venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

A victory could see Pao awarded as much as $160m.