When Philippe Selendy and Faith Gay announced they’d be leaving Quinn Emanuel to start their own firm, John Quinn wasn’t happy. And he let everyone in the world know he wasn’t happy. His blistering “reply all” to Faith Gay’s departure memo laid bare the sort of frustration that too often goes unseen.
In the passive-aggressive world of law, Quinn opted for a more active-aggressive approach.
As I said at the time, it’s refreshing — as an industry observer — to see an honest expression of the hurt feelings that naturally accompany any high-profile move. It was almost assuredly not an advisable email to send, indeed some of the digs seemed unfair if not condescending to a highly successful woman at the top of the legal industry — but anger makes people say regrettable things, or at least phrase their honest feelings in regrettable ways.
So now, with the passage of a little time, Quinn is taking a softer approach. He’s still not happy, but he’s shifting to the “I love you, man” stage of the grief cycle. In another email to all sent yesterday afternoon, Quinn opened up about the warm fuzzies he feels when personnel decide not to jump ship to Selendy & Gay (full email transcribed here).
But, what is remarkable — and makes me proud — is the way in which our people have come together and shown their dedication to this great firm and to one another. We often speak about NFLO (No Firm Like Ours). The last few weeks have seen that motto put in action. I believe many of us have re-discovered how much this common enterprise means to us, and how much each and every person means to the firm. I, and I know other partners in the firm, have been very gratified that people who have been approached have overwhelmingly voted to stay with us — including many who worked primarily with the lawyers who left. This is not something we will take for granted or forget. I certainly won’t. Keeping this renewed commitment alive is a task that should never end. It will make us better and stronger as a firm.
Aw.
Seriously though, Quinn Emanuel has a bounty of talent and while Quinn would love to keep everybody, the firm isn’t going to suffer if several employees make the move the Selendy & Gay. In a year we’ll be talking about Quinn Emanuel as an industry giant and we’ll be talking about Selendy & Gay as one of the hottest newcomer firms in years. Everyone is going to get their piece of the pie when this is all said and done.
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But it looks like it’s still going to take awhile for Quinn to be totally cool with this.
(Full email on the next page…)
Earlier: John Quinn Is NOT Happy About Selendy & Gay — And He Sent The Angry Reply All To Prove It
Big-Name Departures From Quinn Emanuel