Dewey Have Cause for Rejoicing? Some Strange and Humorous Reactions to a Law Firm's Fall
Emotional responses to the Dewey & LeBoeuf debacle have ranged from sadness to anger to... the just plain weird and funny.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been in touch with dozens of people affected by the downfall of Dewey & LeBoeuf. In terms of reactions, two emotions have predominated: sadness at what has happened to a once-great law firm, and anger towards those viewed as blameworthy.
But there have been other responses as well, of a more odd nature. Here are two illustrative, somewhat amusing stories….
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First, from a former Dewey staffer:
In the midst of total chaos, it’s important to find some humor in this very ironic instance… I’ve been out of the office during the madness, [so I] received my WARN letter in the mail. Note the sender’s odd choice of stamp.
Odd indeed. Check it out here (click to enlarge):
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Yes, that’s right: a WARN Act notice was mailed in an envelope with a “Celebrate!” stamp. Was this a Dewey staffer’s way of saying that escaping from the firm was an event worth rejoicing over? Or was it a bitter, sarcastic response to all the turmoil at D&L?
(As you may recall, mailroom services at 1301 Avenue of the Americas have been gone since the start of May. So this stamp was presumably handpicked by a Dewey staffer. If the mailroom contractors from Williams Lea were still around, this letter probably would have been metered rather than stamped.)
Second, here’s another story of a strange, giddy reaction to Dewey’s travails. A lawyer who visited Dewey’s (emptying but not yet empty) offices here in New York provided this account of what he saw yesterday:
I just went over to Dewey’s offices to get a box we need, and there’s a paralegal… drunk, shirtless, doing somersaults all around the halls.
An inebriated, shirtless paralegal, engaging in gymnastics? That might be just enough to bring Steve Davis into the office. (It certainly makes me want to do some on-the-scene reporting from 1301 Avenue of the Americas; doesn’t every attorney remember his first paralegal crush?)
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Speaking of the former chairman, if you’d like to have a laugh at his expense, flip to the next page….
