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(Laid-Off) Lawyer of the Day: Hudson River Plane Crash Passenger Frank Scudere

skadden frank scudere above the law.jpgBack in January and in March, we reported on staff attorney layoffs at Skadden Arps. Apparently, there was one staff attorney who had his job (temporarily) saved by the amazing luck of being on the downed plane that made an emergency landing on the Hudson River on January 15.

From MSNBC.com:

In seat 24B as US Airways Flight 1549 fell silently toward the Hudson River, attorney Frank Scudere did not know that his name was on the list of lawyers that his firm planned to lay off the next morning.

Listen up Law School Revuers, this story lends itself to some kind of truly creative take on Lost. We’d suggest the title Laid-off Lawst.

Scudere, 48, went from plane crash survivor to Biglaw laid-off refugee in a period of under three months:

The [morning after the crash], he was in his Times Square office at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, one of 2,000 attorneys employed at one of the largest corporate law firms in the world, when whispers went around about layoffs. An attorney he didn’t know called him and asked him to come down to a conference room. Before he went, he told another senior attorney, “Oh, man, this can’t be happening. I was on that plane yesterday.”

At the meeting, he was told he had been on the list to be laid off, but because he had been on the plane, he wouldn’t be let go — at least “not today.”…

On March 26, a little more than two months after the US Airways drama, he was called down to the HR office and informed that his position was eliminated. “I was totally blindsided, because I had been told there would be no more layoffs,” he said.

Skadden may have hoped the delay would help it avoid getting media attention. That hope was in vain. This does not come as a surprise to us. We reported extensively on the elimination of the staff attorney program at Skadden. We just hadn’t realized a “celebrity” was among those for whom the bell tolled.

Scudere has some angry words for Skadden, after the jump.

Scudere is using his minor celebrity status to voice unhappiness with Skadden’s approach to layoffs:

Scudere recognizes that the law firm was under economic strain and appreciates that it paid him for more than eight weeks beyond his last day, plus $500 in exchange for signing the standard letter agreeing not to sue. Nevertheless, bitterness creeps in. He’d like the firm to know that there are more civil ways to lay off a person than cutting off his medical benefits immediately, and giving him three hours to gather his belongings before security escorts him out.

“I don’t feel like I deserved special treatment. I just deserved to be treated civilly,” he said. “I’m a 48-year-old attorney and I’ve worked in Big Six accounting firms. I’ve been laid off before. I’ve laid people off before, but I’ve never treated people like that before. It’s bereft of any dignity.”

Keeping Scudere on for another two months of work after the plane crash suggests civility to us. But yes, hustling someone out within three hours of being laid off, is not awesome. Plus, they took away his Blackberry.

Skadden is getting all kinds of mainstream media attention these days. Last weekend, the New York Times wrote in amazement about the firm’s pro bono deferral program, and its sending Heather Eisenlord off to “teach English to monks in Sri Lanka and possibly help bring solar power to remote parts of the Himalayas.”

Unfortunately, Scudere didn’t have the option to go off and breastfeed African orphans on Skadden’s dime. Staff attorneys are not eligible for the Sidebar Program.

Lawyer survives Hudson River flight, loses job [MSNBC.com]

Earlier: Staff Layoff Watch: The Bell Tolls for Skadden Staff
Staff Layoff Watch: A Roundup

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