Cheapness, Email Scandals, Gay, Summer Associates

The Skadden Gays: Out and Proud, or Tacky and Loud?

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That’s the debate currently raging in the Los Angeles office of Skadden. It was triggered by some exuberant, multicolored emails from a Gay Colleague, promoting the Skadden LA AIDS Walk team.
From the delicious (but sporadically updated) Skadden Insider:

[T]he e-mails weren’t well received by everyone because “they are pretty aggressive and unprofessional. Just the tone of voice, the five thousand colors, the naming of names of who contributed and who didn’t.”

Our source continued: “And of course, some ignorant fools are going around saying, “I don’t go around calling myself the ‘straight associate’! Anyway, it was pretty funny. It was a gay gay gay Friday.”

Check out the full post, which reprints the (literally) colorful email, over here.
And read about another instance of public shaming at Skadden, after the jump.


From a Skadden source:

This email… was sent by one of the summer associates [near the end of the 2007 summer program]. Attached to the email was a spreadsheet that, as promised, named all of the summer associates and how much they had paid towards the recruitment gift. You gotta love the summer associate’s resorting to public shaming…

Here’s the email:

“Either today or tomorrow please make a contribution to the legal recruiting staff thank you gift on behalf of our entire summer class. Enclosed please find a spreadsheet of who has and who has not contributed their $40 to the gift. If you have not already done so, please swing by [redacted’]s office, or somehow get the money to her before Thursday when she’s going to buy the gift.”

“I know a fair amount of the folks on the spreadsheet have rotated to other firms/offices, but for the dozens of us still here please do the right thing and contribute your fair share and not have your summer associate colleagues pick up the slack.”

“I am sure that the folks in recruiting, who have worked very hard and gone above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that we have an enjoyable and interesting summer, will appreciate this very much.
Thanks, [redacted]”

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And here’s a catty response from another summer:

“Hi All, I think K. had a fantastic idea of contributing for gifts to the recruiting staff. But why stop there? My officemate, J.S., whom I’m sure you’ve met, was an incredible mentor, advisor, and most of all, friend.”

“I think we should open up our wallets and hearts and show J. how much he means to us all. To avoid ambiguity as to the contributors and free-loaders, I’ve attached a spreadsheet detailing the nature of everyone’s generosity or lack thereof.”

As a firm, Skadden has a reputation for being hard-nosed, effective, but less genteel than its more white-shoe competitors. Is calling out the cheapies via mass email — a strategy that generally works, even if it’s a trifle tacky or gauche — a reflection of the Skadden culture?
(Also, while we’re talking about Skadden, can someone pass along the rumors “about Skadden’s 60th Anniversary Party and the partner video being made”? We hope that said video involves a rap performance by Sheila Birnbaum. Move over, Missy Elliott — the Queen of Toxic Torts is in the house!)
Calling you out in LA [Skadden Insider]
Blah blah blah [Skadden Insider]

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