We Got Sued

We just got sued by a former employee.

I think those involved were at first too pompous to take the situation seriously, or thought she wouldn't have the stones to sue the big, bad law firm. She obviously did and, in my opinion, the jerks responsible deserved to be named in a lawsuit.

It's not widely known, but I know this person pretty well, and had for years before either of us had ties to the firm. I knew as she was leaving that something was not quite right, but kept my distance until the dust settled and I was able to talk to her directly.

It all boils down to this: We're just like any other firm or large corporation. We portray ourselves as an upstanding, progressive firm with values and integrity, and we conduct ourselves accordingly until it's time to play politics. You may be "shown the love" and considered a family member one day, then turned on, treated like a redheaded step-child and put out in the cold the next, as soon as the wrong situation emerges.

While I won't discuss the allegations, I'll summarize the events leading up to them in this way. Remember that movie "Philadelphia"? I'm in no way suggesting the situation is even comparable to that of Tom Hanks' character (who was dying of AIDS). It's not.

I am, however, referring to the systematic way in which the character was railroaded. Hanks' character was considered by all accounts an excellent attorney who produced high-quality results. Then, according to the movie firm's partners, the character's performance changed, overnight, becoming "just mediocre to poor" in their eyes. Files, documents and other items for high-profile cases he worked were suddenly "missing" at the most crucial moments. There were suddenly "big problems" with his work. Think about this movie and how events can be created to fit any situation where someone wants an excuse to get rid of, harass, or force someone else out. So, You get the picture. If you want to set someone up, claim they're seriously impacting the firm's revenue.

My only question is this: did a few incompetent administrators playing politics set this employee up on their own, and rely on our attorneys to bail their @sses out in the end? Or were they told from the very beginning to "find" something on the employee? At any rate, those involved turned on this woman and went after her with such malice and unnecessary viciousness that I am strongly inclined to believe it had to be a set up. There was no reason for this behavior, especially when the whole suit could have been easily avoided had we handled things better.

Regardless of where the pressure originated, those involved obviously did it because they thought they could get away with it.

And firms do get away with it every day. All it takes are a few people at the top who think they're untouchable, who have too many high-priced, morally-bankrupt, corporate whores at their disposal to take care of these "situations" for them.

It will be interesting to see what happens in court. At the very least, the people who got black eyes from all of this deserved to be "put out on Front Street".