Contracts

Law Firm Sues Associate Who Quit After 1 Year

This is why you should always read contracts carefully.

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Starting your legal career — even under the best of circumstances — can be difficult. It’s a new and incredibly stressful stage of your life, and even the most prepared young lawyers can find themselves blindsided when confronted with the actual realities of the job. There are a lot of factors that go into whether your work situation is ideal, that elusive concept of “fit.” But we do know that what firm or even specific partner you wind up working for can have a big impact on whether your work life is fulfilling or dreadful. That is (part of) the reason why turnover in the legal profession is so very high, as attorneys often have to try working at multiple firms before they find a place that strikes the right balance for them personally.

In the top echelons of the legal profession, the turnover is met with an acceptance of the realities of the profession. Most Biglaw firms wish departing associates the best as they continue onto the next step of their career — and probably enroll them in the firm’s alumni network. Firms might have a slightly different reaction when partners leave taking big books of business with them, but for the most part, attorneys leaving a firm is accepted as part of the cost of doing business.

The powers that be at the Preis PLC law firm, a regional firm with offices in in Houston, Lafayette, and New Orleans obviously feel very, very differently. When they hire new associates out of law school, they make them sign a three-year contract. And that’s not just some mild discouragement to stop new lawyers from looking for better jobs; they take the commitment seriously and they’ll sue you if you leave before your three years are up. That’s a much more punitive twist on the golden handcuffs concept.

The firm recently sued Jane “Megan” Daily, a soon-to-be former associate leaving after a year at the firm. The petition alleges a breach of contract and damages — the firm says it lost $10,000 by training Daily for the year because “more experienced attorneys must take time away from other tasks to supervise and mentor new hires, further costing the firm significant lost billing time.” The complaint alleges the firm needs the three years from Daily to make up for this lost revenue:

Preis PLC is proud of its long-standing practice of hiring, training and mentoring young attorneys. Through the firm’s considerable experience in hiring, training and mentoring young lawyers straight out of school, Preis PLC has determined that a three-year employment commitment is necessary to mitigate the significant losses associated with the hiring of attorneys out of school.

In consideration of the direct financial risks and considerable losses incurred in the training and mentoring of young attorneys, Preis PLC has estimated that it will sustain losses of greater than ten thousand ($10,000.00) dollars if a young attorney accepts employment, receives training, mentoring and supervision, but does not complete their three-year employment commitment.

The firm is also seeking $1,875 from Daily to repay a bar exam loan.

This just demonstrates the problem with signing a contract with a law firm — they’re totally fine suing you over it.

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Read the full filing below.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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