Miscarriage of Justice at Paul Hastings? The Blogosphere Reacts

Don’t worry, commenters. We have every intention of giving the recent controversy arising out of layoffs at Paul Hastings the wall-to-wall coverage it deserves.
We’re preparing a more detailed report on associate layoffs and the general state of affairs at PH. If you have information to contribute, please email us (subject line: “Paul Hastings”). We’ve been following the comments (750 and counting) on the post, but we prefer email, due to the greater accountability and opportunity for follow-up. (We keep our email tipsters anonymous, of course.)
Our Paul Hastings scoop has reverberated throughout the blogosphere. A sampling of reactions (excerpts; click on each link to read more):
1. Jezebel. From Moe Tkacik:

[A] female lawyer was laid off by the big law firm Paul Hastings days after suffering a miscarriage because they didn’t want her to get pregnant again. This sort of s**t happens all the time in a lot of industries, of course, but in a firm whose specialty is employment law it’s kind of outrageous….

“If this response seems particularly emotional, perhaps an associate’s emotional vulnerability after a recent miscarriage is a factor you should consider the next time you fire or lay someone off,” she writes.

Also, it really isn’t that emotional in light of the fact that a male employee of the firm killed himself and his ex-girlfriend, a Paul Hastings secretary, at the firm’s Atlanta office.

Excellent observations — the past few weeks have been rough for Paul Hastings. And it is somewhat ironic that PH — a leading employment-law firm, counsel to Sullivan & Cromwell in the Aaron Charney discrimination litigation — now finds itself in hot water over how it treats its own employees.
2. Instapundit. From the ever-pithy Professor Glenn Reynolds:

WHEN NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS don’t work.

3. Volokh Conspiracy. From Professor Orin Kerr:

It’s David Lat’s World, and BigLaw Partners Are Just Living In It: Remember the old days when law firms worried about getting sued if they fired an attorney? These days, I would think the greater fear is that the firing will get ugly and end up featured on Above the Law.

Thanks to Professor Kerr for the kind words.
Read more, below the fold.

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4. Workplace Prof Blog. From Professor Paul Secunda:

[T]hough these are just allegations, I come from the same environment and only can say that I know of very similar circumstances, and worse, happening around me when I wore the associate manacles. But the fact that law firms might be morally bankrupt should be really no surprise. What is a surprise is that an experienced labor and employment firm was so (allegedly) callous in handling one of its own. As they say, they eat their young in this business….

5. Nuts & Boalts. From Max Power:

[L]et’s be honest — this could have been any big law firm. Oh sure, all the other firms will assure their associates that this type of thing would never happen at their law firm, where associates are so highly valued! But the truth is that every firm has some type of story like this lurking in a closet — Paul Hastings was just unfortunate enough to have it broadcast all over the Internets. The question to me isn’t so much, What the hell is wrong with Paul Hastings? The question is, What the hell is wrong with a profession that has long tolerated this kind of thing?

These are just a few blogger reactions; we can’t include them all. For more, see Technorati.
Update: Discussion about pregnancy discrimination cases appears here.
Further Update (5/9/08): The author of the email, Shinyung Oh, has gone public and given an interview. See here.
Earlier: Breaking: A Dramatic Farewell Email (And proof of Paul Hastings layoffs.)

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