Goldberg Segalla, the 200th largest law firm in the country according to the latest National Law Journal 350 rankings, certainly seems to be a firm that’s up on the latest technology. How do we know? Earlier this week, the firm’s managing partner, Richard J. Cohen, took to YouTube to to publicly fire a wayward partner.
It seems that Clive O’Connell, who was a corporate insurance partner at Goldberg Segalla’s London office until recently, got a little too agitated when his favorite team, Chelsea, lost against Liverpool in an October soccer match. An angry O’Connell was caught on camera raising his voice and referring to Liverpool fans as “those scum Scouse idiots, those nasty horrible people.” Here’s the footage of O’Connell’s sports rage, courtesy of Neeks Sports:
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According to the Belfast Telegraph, O’Connell allegedly wrote a blog post after the game that was dedicated to hurling insults at the people of Liverpool, calling them “inbred.” By American trash-talking standards, this all seems a bit tame, but the blog post has been deleted, and O’Connell went on an apology tour following his “offensive” commentary:
I let my emotions get the better of me. I clearly regret this and any offence that I may have caused by my hot headed and regrettable reaction, which was inappropriate whether or not caught on camera.
O’Connell’s apology wasn’t good enough for Goldberg Segalla’s managing partner. On Sunday, Rick Cohen terminated the furious football fan, “effective immediately,” via YouTube for all the world to see. How embarrassing. Behold the schadenfreude:
https://youtu.be/l0B_OQIskK8
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In case you’re unable to watch the video at work, here’s a transcript of Cohen’s remarks:
Hello. My name is Rick Cohen. I’m the managing partner of Goldberg Segalla. I personally recruit every lawyer in every office of this firm’s footprint. I tell each of them that this firm is special because the people who join Goldberg Segalla not only need to be excellent at whatever it is they do but they must be better human beings than they are lawyers.
Our core values require that anyone affiliated with this firm demonstrate respect for the clients, the courts, our colleagues, and our communities. Respect, tolerance, kindness, diversity, charity, they aren’t mere words or amorphous concepts to us; we’re true to those values.
Clive O’Connell’s comments are entirely inconsistent with our ethos. His words are offensive, plain and simple. His conduct doesn’t rise to the standards to which we hold ourselves. And for these reasons we have terminated our partnership with Mr. O’Connell, effective immediately.
We’re extremely proud of the respectful and giving culture that we’ve worked hard to build, and we’re committed to maintaining it, for ourselves, for our clients, and for the communities of which we are a part. Thank you.
Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned here. No matter how much you love your favorite sports team, if you’re a prominent attorney at one of the world’s largest law firms, it would serve you well to keep your mouth shut if you value your job. Pipe down when it comes to trash-talking before, during, and after sporting events, because it’s apparently something you can be “sacked” for these days — even if you’re a partner.
(Clive O’Connell’s bio has been scrubbed from the Goldberg Segalla website since his termination from the firm, but we’ve got a copy. Flip to the next page to see it.)