Small Law Firms

Reality TV Star Quits Law Firm In Epic Fashion

Being on a reality TV show can teach you some high-level break-up techniques you can use later in life.

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Remember how on Sex and the City Carrie got all bent out of shape when Ron Livingston broke up with her on a Post-It note? That’s because there are accepted conventions for the proper way to end relationships, and that’s true even when you are breaking up with your law firm.

Average Joe contestant Jason Marcus may not have won the heart of his special lady while on TV, but he sure learned something — like some high-level break-up techniques.

According to a lawsuit filed in Fulton County, Georgia surrounding the dissolution of False Claims Act boutique law firm Bothwell Bracker, when Marcus left the firm (along with another attorney and a paralegal), he didn’t handle things in the most professional manner.

According to the Daily Report, in late 2014 name partner Mike Bothwell handed out $700,000 in bonuses to Marcus, nonequity partner Julie Bracker, and paralegal Sheri Lang in anticipation of an ownership interest in the firm.

Then in the early moments of 2015, everything went pear-shaped:

On Monday, Jan. 5, Bothwell returned to his office after the New Year’s holiday to find Bracker’s office “stripped bare” and Marcus’ office in “disarray.”

On his desk were resignation letters from Bracker and Marcus. Bracker’s letter said she was taking several of the firm’s clients with her and, among other things, had removed her page from the firm’s website.

Marcus’ four-sentence letter was more succinct.

“Mike: I quit, effective immediately,” it began.

According to the suit, Bracker and Marcus—with Lang’s knowledge—”wiped out nearly the entire practice” of Bothwell’s 19-year-old firm, uploading thousands of pages of its files to cloud-based servers, deleting case records and bad-mouthing Bothwell to clients.

Cold, man. Just cold.

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Bothwell claims to be blindsided by the breakup, like so many reality tv contestants without a final rose:

“You put almost 20 years of work into the firm,” he said. “Then you come in the office one day and everything is gone, taken by the people you were about to make full partner.”

According to a statement from their lawyers,  Marcus, Bracker, and Lang have a very different take on the break-up. After hinting at some potential ethical issues behind the split, they went on:

“Unfortunately,” it continued, “Mr. Bothwell responded to their split-off by making a series of bogus allegations and demands against his former colleagues and clients. First, Mr. Bothwell tried to force clients into changing their minds by refusing to turn over certain case files and demanding millions of dollars in purported hourly fees. When that failed, Mr. Bothwell filed a meritless lawsuit against his former colleagues, including a second-year paralegal.”

The litigation is still in its early stages, so its impossible to say what actually happened. I guess we’ll just have to tune into the next episode of When Reality Stars Attack.

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‘How Not to Leave a Law Firm’ Suit Claims Wiped Files, Missing Clients, Empty Offices and an ‘I Quit’ Note [Daily Report]

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