Free Speech

This Is What Happens When A Lawyer's Letter Goes Viral

You never know when your letter can make it big.

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(Dominick Reuter/Reuters)

(Dominick Reuter/Reuters)

45 minutes. That was all it took for David McCraw, an in-house lawyer for The New York Times, to pen the letter that went viral, a response to Donald Trump’s attorney’s threats to sue the paper over publication of sexual assault allegations. There were an additional 30 minutes spent on editing by other members of the legal department, but after that, one of the most epic lawyer takedowns of all time went live.

In an article in the Times, natch, detailing the experience and the stunning response, McCraw displays a humble charm befitting a man who didn’t know millions would soon be reading his words. As he notes, it isn’t typical for a lawyer’s letter to have such a response:

Like lots of lawyers, I write dozens of lawyer letters every year. They tend to have an audience of one: An attorney who writes to the paper unhappy with something we have done. I write back, and more often than not, nothing more is ever heard. We take no offense. We’re lawyers, not novelists.

Aww, but this letter definitely had legs. Taunting a candidate for president is likely to get a reaction in the most normal of times, but when dealing with an angry orange man with a trigger happy Twitter finger, you just know the reaction is going to be over the top.

McCraw talks about the various reactions he received — some people called for his disbarment, old acquaintances sought him out for the first time in year, and others were just angry with him, but most were supportive.

The most moving of the emails were from women. Many saw my letter as standing up not just for The Times but for the two women who had come forward to our reporters to tell their stories.

“I felt you were also speaking … for all of the women that have been bullied after reporting sexual harassment/assault/abuse. For that I sincerely thank you,” one wrote.

Another wrote: “I don’t know one woman who has not experienced some level of this sort of aggressive, entitled behavior over the course of her life. Yet so many of us just try to bury it and move on, while arguing within ourselves whether we weren’t partially to blame. Perhaps this new discussion will help bring about meaningful change. Thank you for helping bring this into sharp relief.”

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That’s a remarkable impact for any lawyer’s letter, let alone one written so effortlessly.

“Sending you the highest of fives,” wrote another reader, although she predicted my spam filter would end up with her email. A couple in California said they had opened a bottle of wine and toasted the letter. A New Yorker said he wanted to be the “289,000th human being to say thank you.”

But my favorite email was the one that ended: “As my sister put it, ‘I’ve never wanted to hang a paragraph from a lawyer on my fridge before.’ ”

That’s sweet — it’s enough to make even the most jaded of lawyers proud for at least a minute or two.

I Hardly Expected My Letter to Donald Trump to Go Viral [New York Times]

Earlier: New York Times To Donald Trump: Come At Me, Bro
Donald Trump’s Biglaw Firm Threatens To Sue New York Times Over Publication Of Sexual Assault Allegations

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Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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