Biglaw, Partner Issues, Quote of the Day, Social Media, Social Networking Websites, Twittering

A Biglaw Partner's Good Deed For A Florida Family

Isn't this a lovely story? Happy Friday!

By  
on

I cannot believe how, just how generous and nice that was because you don’t see that very much anymore. Most people don’t take the time of day to do very much for anybody else, especially a stranger.

— Sunny Riling, a Florida mom whose family recovered their lost camera containing treasured photos — with the help of a Biglaw partner.

(Read on to find out how….)

On Tuesday, Wiley Rein partner Brian Pandya found a lost camera on the D.C. Metro. Pandya asked his friend, Chris Gaskill of Alderson Court Reporting, to try and use social media to help find the camera’s owners.

Gaskill, an avid Twitter user, tweeted out a photo of the family that was found in the camera. He also asked several Twitter users with large followings, such as @SCOTUSblog and yours truly, to retweet. I happily retweeted, although I had my doubts as to whether the camera’s owners would ever be located.

As it turns out, the camera did find its way back to its family — although not due to Twitter. The Washington Post explains:

Sponsored

[O]ld-fashioned detective work rather than social media led them to the happy conclusion of [Pandya and Gaskill’s] quest.

Brian Pandya, who found the camera on the Orange Line, brought it into his law firm. There, two employees looking through the pictures found images of a child’s birthday party at a particular gymnastics studio in south Florida on Dec. 2, 2012.

They called the gymnastics studio and asked if it would look in its books to see who hosted a party that day. And that led right to Sunny and Robert Riling.

So it might not be an advertisement for the power of Twitter, but it’s still a heartwarming story about a high-powered lawyer who did the right thing. Happy Friday!

P.S. Brian Pandya is gracious as well as generous. When he learned that we were working on a story, he asked us to be sure to give props to two other folks at Wiley Rein:

  • Rachel Hunnicutt, a senior associate in the IP group, did invaluable forensic detective work. She identified the dates of the photos, which allowed the gym to search their records for who had a party on that date and ultimately identify the owner.
  • Lindsey Plummer, a staff member in the operations department, also helped with the search.

Man Finds Florida Family That Lost Camera on D.C. Metro [NBC Miami]
Lost camera reunited with its owners, the old-fashioned way [Washington Post]

Sponsored

Topics

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,