Biglaw

Biglaw Partner Disappears From Firm Website After Throwing Client Under A Bus

The firm is working to 'remedy the situation.'

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Littler Mendelson “appears to have parted ways” with partner Gavin Appleby, now that he’s no longer on the firm’s website. The apparent separation happened after ADP, the payroll giant, claims it was thrown “under the bus” by Appleby’s representations in federal court.

The kerfuffle arose over Littler’s defense of Outokumpu Stainless USA over employment claims. ADP was subpoenaed as part of the matter, but as reported by ABA Journal, that’s when things went awry.

According to a March 29 motion filed by ADP, the Littler lawyer falsely told the court that ADP had never responded to a third-party subpoena for Outokumpu records. In reality, ADP said, it had provided responsive documents five business days after receiving the subpoena, but the Littler lawyer didn’t produce the documents to the plaintiffs.

The misrepresentations led the court to issue a show-cause order against ADP, the motion said. Although the judge told the Littler lawyer to serve the show-cause order on ADP, the lawyer “waited until the last minute” to inform ADP about the hearing, according to the motion. ADP was not able to send a representative on such short notice, resulting in an order for a second show-cause hearing.

As if that description wasn’t bad enough, there’s more salt in the wound. Littler represents ADP in other matters… and that was a real sore spot for the payroll company, saying it “was shocked to learn that its own attorneys at Littler Mendelson had made repeated material misrepresentations about their own client, ADP, subjecting it to potential contempt sanctions.”

Littler has already agreed to pay $63,000 in legal fees and costs, and will cover any future costs over the matter.

The Biglaw firm’s statement doesn’t comment on the status of Appleby at the firm, but puts the focus on making things right:

“Littler prides itself on high-quality client service—we expect our attorneys to handle all client matters with care, responsiveness and forethought while providing exceptional counsel. While we cannot share details about our representation in any one matter, we can assure you that we take very seriously if and when we fall short of these standards. In this case, as soon as we were made aware of the concerns, our management team took immediate and appropriate action. We are working to do all we can to remedy the situation.”

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And Appleby, well, he’s predictably tight-lipped over the matter:

Appleby told the ABA Journal that Littler had asked him not to reply to a request for comment.

“My apologies,” Appleby said in an email.

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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