Federal Judge Reams Junior Associate Because Biglaw Firm Refused To Send A Partner To Court
Lesson to Biglaw: don't send an associate to do a partner's job.
This is uncomfortable.
Even though the judge in this case probably had every right to be pissed off at Biglaw powerhouse Kirkland & Ellis — due to a scheduling conflict, the firm sent a junior associate with little client contact to a status conference — ripping into the sacrificial lamb sent to slaughter is cringeworthy. But you cannot look away.
Eastern District of New York Judge Nicholas Garaufis is the pissed-off jurist, and Aulden Burcher-DuPont (fka Thomas Aulden Burcher II) the unlucky third-year associate who had the worst day of his professional life. Kirkland’s client is Facebook, accused by 20,000 Israeli plaintiffs of using the social media website’s algorithm to incite and connect terrorists.
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The K&E partner on the case got called away to Texas on another matter, and left Burcher-DuPont to attend the status conference in the Facebook case in front of Judge Garaufis.
The judge was not pleased. As reported by the Daily News:
“You tell your folks back at Kirkland & Ellis that if they think so little of this court that they didn’t send a partner here to talk about this kind of problem which implicates international terrorism and the murder of innocent people in Israel and other places,” Garaufis said. “I think it’s outrageous, irresponsible and insulting.”
He was so infuriated he refused to even engage with a lowly third-year associate:
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“I’ve been a lawyer for 41 years and a judge for 16 years and I’m not having this discussion with you,” he said.
That’s one way to make the young associate feel small. Isn’t there a better way to express the ire over the perceived slight than a public reaming of the associate just trying to do his job? But I suppose this judge has a lot of feelings he needs to get off his chest:
“Maybe Kirkland & Ellis can scrounge up a partner who isn’t busy in Texas to come see a lowly judge in the Eastern District of New York,” Garaufis shot back.
Lesson to Biglaw: don’t send an associate to do a partner’s job.
UPDATE (9/27/2016, 1:20 p.m.): For a different perspective on this matter, see Was This Judge’s Reprimand Of Kirkland & Ellis Justified?
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Judge unfriends top NYC law firm for belittling his court after they ‘irresponsibly’ sent rookie attorney to defend Facebook in terrorism case [New York Daily News]
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).
