In a large law firm like Skadden, people leave every day (and especially on a Friday) for reasons unrelated to the political mess the firm currently finds itself in. Earlier today, that happened, and, as per tradition, the departing associate sent a farewell email to their soon-to-be former colleagues.
Which shouldn’t be controversial, but it sent Skadden into a tizzy when they wondered how a mass email even happened because they tried to kill the distribution lists from the top down to head off anyone who might want to express their opinion about the firm becoming a cowardly laughing stock in Biglaw.
According to emails viewed by Above the Law, when the departure email went out, the powers-that-be freaked the F out.
That’s from PR to IT wondering how they’re seeing this innocuous farewell email. Shouldn’t all communication be banned?
And as leadership scrambled and tried to figure out how the departure memo was able to be sent, a note directed to the Executive Chair and General Counsel was sent… replyall style to the distro, revealing these plans.
Well, oops.
As one insider at the firm told Above the Law, “Before sending today’s email on Trump’s deal, Skadden has turned off firm email lists to silence people. It is so ironic considering the history of Skadden’s establishment.” Apparently that process didn’t go as dystopianly as they’d planned.
Above the Law reached out to the firm, but did not immediately receive a comment.
Even before the announcement came that Skadden was committing $100 million in pro bono payola to get back in Donald Trump’s good graces they were in the news. An associate at the firm rallied associates around the country to sign an open letter demanding a response from Biglaw to the attack on the rule of law and received crickets from the firm in response. And when the administration upped their attacks on Biglaw, that associate, Rachel Cohen, publicly quit Skadden over the firm’s failure to address and admonish Trump’s retaliation against the legal system.
Even though Skadden leadership is trying to control the internal narrative, tipsters that have reached out to Above the Law convey the anger and resentment insiders have at the firm for bending a knee. And keep those reactions coming! Feel free to sound off by email, by text message (646-820-8477), or by tweet (@ATLblog).
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].
