John Quinn Is NOT Happy About Selendy & Gay -- And He Sent The Angry Reply All To Prove It

When partners leave law firms, it can leave some very hurt feelings.

When partners depart to rival firms or to set up their own shop, we always hear the polished party line about “wishing them the best in their future endeavors.” But you always wonder if some hurt feelings aren’t lingering under it all. After all, partner defections take business away from the mother firm and often carry associate talent with them. It’s actually crazy to believe everyone should just passively accept business walking out the door.

So when John Quinn replied to Faith Gay’s departure memo with some blunt honesty, it was a breath of fresh air. With the benefit of hindsight, he probably wouldn’t have hit send on such an off-the-cuff response and stuck with the party line. But we’re here now and we’ve got a window into the high-stakes emotions behind running a high-stakes litigation practice.

Faith Gay, until now the Co-Chair of Quinn Emanuel’s National Trial Practice group who is leaving Quinn to start Selendy & Gay with fellow Quinn alum and Litigator of the Year Philippe Selendy, sent her departure memo at 8:50 p.m. on Valentine’s Day. It provides the standard effusive praise of the firm and expressions of gratitude you’d expect. It does end with this:

The Life That I Have
The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours

The love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.

Which… a poem? Really? You’re quitting your job not leading a fellowship to Mordor. Also this poem famously got someone killed so maybe it’s not the best way to cap off a letter. In any event, this isn’t the time to be waxing poetic while you know a good deal of the people reading it are already steamed. At a certain point, that kind of posturing is just asking for an angry response.

Enter John Quinn’s reply all. You know what, let’s not even break this down — here it is in full:

Faith, I wish I could join in the high minded sentiment you express here. Some day maybe I will be able to. But not yet. At this time I am still perhaps too mindful of other facts.

Such as that you really were not very well known at all when you joined us from White and Case.
That during your time with us we supported you in every way we could and, I think, made you a legal star.
That during your time with us you were paid well over $100m—far more than you ever dreamed you could earn.
That when you wanted to take time off to go to graduate school, we supported you.
That when you wanted to come back part time, we supported you.
That you planned your departure in secret, we now know, for months.
And let us know that you were leaving, not even with a phone call, but with an email to me and to peter, attaching a proposed form of joint press release.
That you are now planning to take as much of our work as possible.
And to recruit as many of our attorneys as possible.
I can tell you that virtually all of the attorneys you name here are pretty angry with you.

There must be a poem about deception or ingratitude that would be more apposite?

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First, damn.

Second, this is unfortunately inevitable. High-ranking partners can’t be entirely transparent in setting up their move. There are any number of obstacles that could derail the move and they can’t put their present firm through the roller coaster of “will they or won’t they” for months on end. But that secrecy also leaves the rest of the firm blindsided when it finally comes out. There’s just no good way to make a break like this — only time will heal. One might point to other high-profile separations and say there’s clearly a model for a smoother transition than this one, but really that’s only what we saw from the outside.

My sense is that Quinn’s irritation is much more prevalent when partners depart than you might think.


HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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