On its official website, Akin Gump proudly bills itself as a “full-service” law firm. And it boasts: “Our growth has come by understanding client problems and solving them with a unique combination of… practical… skills.”
Truer words were never spoken. From ABC News:
A legal secretary at one of Washington’s most prominent and well-connected law firms, Akin Gump Strauss Houer & Feld LLP, has been suspended after telling her bosses she secretly worked at night for the escort service run by the so-called D.C. Madam, Jeane Palfrey.
The woman both serviced clients and, at times, helped to run the business, Palfrey told ABC News in an interview to be broadcast on “20/20” Friday.
The firm said it would not make her name public.
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But do YOU know the name of this enterprising employee, or anything else about her? If so, we’d love to hear from you, by email (subject line: “DC Madam”).
A few more comments, after the jump.
We raise the possibility that the Akin Gump employee may be a paralegal rather than a legal secretary (or worked as a paralegal before becoming a legal secretary). The ABC News story refers to her as a secretary, but then quotes an email to Deborah Jeane Palfrey in which she (the Akin Gumpster) refers to herself as a paralegal:
“I think that handling the phones 4 to 5 nights a week is a very fair offer and would be something that I could easily do, even with my paralegal duties as they could pretty much be done simultaneously in front of a computer.”
You always wondered what the paralegals did all day. Well, this is WAY more lucrative than playing FreeCell.
Finally, we can understand why Akin Gump was so upset about this news. This woman’s “freelancing” for Deborah Jeane Palfrey violated the legal secretary’s implied “covenant not to compete”:
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If you’re going to sleep around with rich guys, do it with the PARTNERS, dammit.
D.C. Law Firm Suspends Woman Who Worked as Escort [ABC News]
Akin Grump Strauss Hauer & Feld [official website]