Email Scandals, Screw-Ups

Total Recall? Not at Winston & Strawn.Email gaffe sends 'all partners' memo to 'all attorneys.'

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Received last Friday from a tipster at Winston & Strawn (who was unhappy with the firm’s double salary freeze):

To add major insult to injury — especially after Sidley Austin’s announcement [of a raise] this afternoon — the Managing Partner of Winston just accidentally emailed a memo to ALL ATTORNEYS (including all associates) which he meant to send only to ALL PARTNERS, bragging about FY2010 collections. He talks about how work in process and accounts receivable were the same on Jan. 31, 2009 as they were on Jan. 31, 2010, how they accomplished a revenue increase without reducing overall assets, and how work in process added in January 2010 exceeded budget.

A moment later, he tried to recall the message with that Outlook “recall” function that doesn’t really work. Amazing.

Ah yes, Microsoft Outlook’s useless “recall” feature — which just draws attention to the gaffe. If it doesn’t work for federal judges or for DLA Piper partners, why should it work for Winston?
(Misaddressing an email is like passing gas, or making an unwanted advance towards a colleague. Sometimes it’s best to just pretend it didn’t happen.)
Check out the Winston & Strawn memo — intended for “all partners,” but now going out to all the world — after the jump.


The memo, from managing partner Thomas Fitzgerald and tax practice chair James Lynch, appears below. Interestingly enough, it’s not that juicy. It has an impersonal tone, and it doesn’t convey very granular information about the firm’s finances.
Associates and staff often imagine that partners are privy to all sorts of information about the firm. But at many places, even partners — rank-and-file partners, as opposed to firm management — don’t know that much more than associates.
UPDATE: We’ve learned that Jim Lynch was on the memo as a sender because he’s the head of the finance committee at Winston, which handles collections.
WINSTON & STRAWN — MEMORANDUM — COLLECTION: FISCAL YEAR 2010

Earlier: Prior ATL coverage of Winston & Strawn

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