A couple of stories have come out recently, retelling the grand tale of Shinyung Oh’s Paul Hastings departure email.

The email is, of course, a classic. But the story is being re-told, again and again, in the context of the layoffs that are taking place all across the country. Shinyung Oh was on the Today show, and recently she was featured in the Los Angeles Times, in a story about the phenomenon of farewell emails:

“It took me a long time to write it,” said [Jason] Shugars, 34, who left Google to become director of ad operations for the music streaming Web site Imeem. “I didn’t want to send out a stale ‘good working with you, please reach me here’ e-mail. Who wants that?”

That’s a good question these days, now that thousands of people are finding themselves with pink slips.

The farewell e-mail suddenly has become commonplace, a new art form in the electronic age.

The Associated Press also had a story, warning people about what they say on the way out the door:

Truly angry flameouts are a rarity for that reason — most people understand they will whip through the ether at breakneck speed…. Experts warn against real displays of such anger over concerns that it could hurt a future job search. Many caution against even a hint negativity.

Oh’s memorable email was referenced in both stories.

But Shinyung Oh herself doesn’t think this focus on farewell emails is particularly helpful. Some of her thoughts, after the jump.

Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: time to announce Above the Law’s top two stories for 2008, on the gossip front. We’ve also been recapping the top stories on the business side of the fence, but stories about the business of law are available from many other outlets. Juicy law firm gossip is harder to come by.

Our two leading gossip stories were broken here at ATL. They were subsequently picked up by mainstream media outlets, but we covered them first.

Read about the two stories, after the jump.