Shinyung Oh Has Left the Building
(And a pair of opinion polls)
If you’re tired of reading about Shinyung Oh, the former Paul Hastings associate who sent a now-famous farewell email, fear not. The story is on its last legs.
We just wanted to tie up a loose end. Earlier this week, we wondered about whether she was still at Paul Hastings. Here’s the answer, courtesy of Shinyung Oh herself:
I’m no longer with Paul Hastings. Because I didn’t sign the release, my termination was effective as of sometime last week. If I had signed the release, I would have technically stayed on (on an inactive basis) until the end of July.
We wish Shinyung the best of luck in her future endeavors.
We also contacted the firm for comment; they had none. (An aside: Contrary to what some folks apparently think, we welcome hearing from the law firms that we write about. We often reach out to them for comment, especially on sensitive items, but they should also feel free to contact us sua sponte.)
One final thing. In the comments on our various Paul Hastings posts, there was occasionally a “piling on” quality, with lots of commenters lambasting PH (and some attacking Shinyung Oh as well).
But the comments are not necessarily representative of the ATL readership at large. Please take our two quick polls. Feel free to take whatever considerations you want into account when casting your vote (i.e., the polls aren’t based solely on the recent controversy).
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"But the comments are not necessarily representative of the ATL readership at large. Please take our two quick polls, after the jump."
Really? Looks to me that over 72% of the posters have a "somewhat" or "very unfavorable" opinion of PH.
PH to 145!
Happy Birthday to Rootbeer!
R.I.P. Jim Henson.
May 16, 2008
Guys at my high school used to beat dead horses all the time, it was no big deal
--Obligatory FRAT STUD
My opinion of PH is "somewhat unfavorable," but that has little to do with this employment matter. Rather, it has to do with the quality (or lack thereof) of work I saw when they were opposing counsel.
1:19 - ATL's parent company is called "Dead Horse Media", so it makes sense.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=O0CEUD00adQ&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=O0CEUD00adQ&feature=related
Mrs. 话/北方 know deceased husban Roger Lou would say Mr. Paul Hasting firm TTT. It not level of Sutherland or Wachtell (number ones best in U.S. of A.).
With Respekt.
Mrs. Roger Lou (话/北方)
While I enjoyed and sympathised with her e-mail, it ultimately was nothnig more than venting by a very weel compensated at-will employee who was terminated. She has no legal right to keep her job and has advanced no claim of discrimation or wrongdoing by PH. Her only gripe apparently is that she felt she was a good employee, apparently had been told so in past years, but now was fired - perhaps in an insensitive manner, but ,once again, no illegal or unlawful behavior by PH is alleged. Upshot is she was super-sympathetic at first, but now just appears like a disgruntled ex-employee who lacks professionalism, maturity, class or tact.
As to PH, all they did was lay off associate too senior to keep around when business does not allow them to promote her to partnership (even if they are talented). They offerred nice severance - 3 months of senior associate pay when employee is not generating any revenue is a lot of money - and gave her chance to leave without being "fired" -- we are all against the evil "L" word (no, not lesbian - that is good as in CA) - "layoffs" - but PH could have behaved much worse. Only time layoffs are absolutely wrong and worthy of being highlighted (by ATL) is when a firm gives the axe to summer and junior lawyers as they have put their careers in the firms hands and are owed at least some time.
1:58 -- thank you PH partner. Now go back to your layoffs.
I feel bad for her being likely unfairly terminated, but I think she's made herself an untouchable by the unprofessional venting and lashing out. She could have turned it down and pursued her claim against PH privately... which is what an *attorney* would have likely advised her to do. She probably had a decent case against PH that would have at least settled in her favor, but now it's too late. She gave all her cards away to ATL. And now she seems less like an attorney. Not cool to be the uber-victim.
1:21 -- you can't judge a firm based on one experience. I've seen some mediocre work from Wachtell; doesn't make it a mediocre firm. Despite vault rankings and the like most firms have a pretty wide variance in the quality of their lawyers.
I still want to know why the version of the email sent to the firm had mistakes in it that were corrected when it was placed on this site. Who might have an incentive to correct such mistakes? I wonder ...
That smile. That crazy ass smile. Needs to be toned down to a 7. Whoa.
2:23(1) - you mean handle it classy like Charney?
Ouch, PH really took it on the chin here, huh?
This is a huge boon for rising 2Ls at Hastings, Santa Clara, and Loyola!
She is definitely channeling Chuckie in that picture.
2:23(2) is abolsutely correct. I've dealt with attorneys from creme de la creme (read: Cravath, Skadden, STB) as well as lesser known or so-called "TTT" firms.
2:23(2) is abolsutely correct. I've dealt with attorneys from creme de la creme (read: Cravath, Skadden, STB) as well as lesser known or so-called "TTT" firms.
Oops - should be "absolutely"
I hear WB is looking for a new Joker in Dark Knight 2 .
Oh should go with a smile.
Almost 3,000 votes in both polls -- I'm impressed.
2:29 - Lat disclosed that he made those corrections when he posted the email ("with a handful of minor typos corrected").
"Guys in my high school used to correct typos in emails before posting them to their blogs, it was no big deal."
Eileen King, Global Director of Public Relations for Paul Hastings, is a liar. On May 12th she claimed publicly that Paul Hastings is not laying off associates. The truth is that Paul Hastings partners were advised at their annual partners’ retreat in Palm Beach on April 3rd and April 4th last month that they would be required to lay off senior associates in each of Paul Hastings’ offices worldwide in order to deal with slumping business in Paul Hastings corporate department. In addition, Paul Hastings began laying off corporate and real estate associates last fall and has thereafter continued to stealthily lay off associates, approximately two at a time, to avoid media attention.
looks like 80% of the ATL readership does not have a very favorable opinion on PH.
Last! (YES!)