Crime, Job Searches, Rape, Reader Polls

Did Quinn Emanuel Hire, Then Fire, a Convicted Sex Offender?

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CHECK YOU EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND. That appears to be the lesson learned by the New York office of litigation powerhouse Quinn Emanuel.

A source at QE recently sent us an email with this dramatic subject heading: “A rapist among us.. Quinn Emanuel.” Here’s the allegation:

[Earlier this month] our Records Manager, [name redacted – hereinafter “Got-a-Record Manager”], was fired. He’s been employed at Quinn for over 2 years. Termination Reason: He was a convicted rapist. He’s been convicted since 1987. He was charged with sodomy and first degree rape. I shudder to think that we had a rapist among us and the firm who claims to do background check on employees did not even catch this. An employee did a simple Google search on him and came up with it…. How did the firm miss this?

The tipster provided links to Got-a-Record Manager’s (1) LinkedIn profile, showing his employment at Quinn Emanuel as a “Records Manager,” and (2) a sex offender profile on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement website, containing Got-a-Record Manager’s name and photo. If you enter Got-a-Record Manager’s (uncommon) name into Google, the first result in his sex offender registration and the third result is his LinkedIn profile.

How did this come up? According to our source, “People just like to Google others for fun, and this time someone got a surprise.” Indeed.

Was Got-a-Record’s criminal record “a surprise” to the powers-that-be at QE? We reached out to the firm for comment….

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Partner Peter Calamari, the designated contact for the New York office, provided this statement to ATL:

As you might suspect, we cannot comment on personnel matters, however, we should advise you that our records management function is run by an outsource company. QE has no employees in that area.

This struck us as semantic, so we followed up to ask Calamari whether Got-a-Record Manager had ever done work for Quinn Emanuel in any capacity, regardless of job title, and regardless of status as an employee or an independent contractor. Calamari responded: “Sorry we really cannot comment.”

Despite the firm’s official refusal to comment, multiple sources have confirmed that (1) Got-A-Record Manager previously worked in the file department of QE’s New York office, and (2) he apparently no longer works at Quinn Emanuel. One attorney who worked with him offered this assessment: “He was competent and did a decent job.” (That might not be glowing praise, but it’s more than can be said for many law firm employees, even at top firms like Quinn; see here, item #5.)

This episode raises some difficult issues about the post-prison treatment of sex offenders, and violent criminals more generally. On the one hand, it’s certainly the case that some employees will feel unsafe working with a convicted sex offender. And a firm could be sued if it knowingly employed a former sex offender and that person then committed a sex crime against another firm employee, perhaps at a firm event (a la Roofiegate)

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On the other hand, Got-a-Record Manager was convicted over 20 years ago. He has served his time and repaid his debt to society; shouldn’t he be readmitted to civil society and the workforce? And what are ex-convicts supposed to do with themselves if no employer will take a chance on them after they leave prison? It can’t be a good thing, for the former criminals or for society, for them to be completely unable to earn a legitimate living.

Of course, as hard as it is, ex-convicts do have to come clean during the hiring process. We don’t know whether Got-A-Record revealed his record to QE when he applied to the firm. But the failure to disclose this information may be the reason he’s no longer there now.

Readers, what do you think? Discuss in the comments and take our poll. At the very bottom of this post, we’ve provided screenshots of Got-A-Record Manager’s (1) LinkedIn profile and (2) sex offender profile. We’ve redacted his name, but the same name, which is not a common name, appears in both documents. (Please keep it out of the comments. Thanks.)

Earlier: Quinn Emanuel: CHECK YOU EMAIL

QUINN EMANUEL RECORDS MANAGER — LINKEDIN PROFILE

QUINN EMANUEL RECORDS MANAGER — SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY PROFILE

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