Barnes & Thornburg appears to have wasted no time in trying to repair its reputation after a Minneapolis partner dragged the firm’s name into Mike Lindell’s latest round of nonsensical legal ranting.
The firm says partner Alec Beck, who signed on as local counsel in the suit, is “no longer with the firm,” figuratively smothered out of his job by firm leaders wielding the unparalleled comfort and softness of a pillow not made by a recovering crackhead with a questionable grip on reality.
From The American Lawyer:
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“Late last night, firm management became aware of the filing of the complaint, which was done without receiving firm authorization pursuant to internal firm approval procedures,” a Barnes & Thornburg spokesperson said Friday. “While the firm cannot comment substantively on pending matters, the firm is immediately taking the requisite steps to withdraw as local counsel in this matter and end the client relationship. The attorney representing the client in this matter is no longer with the firm.”
Whether he was fired or resigned isn’t spelled out but we don’t really need a lot of help to read between the lines of this statement.
It may be unfair to tie this whole affair to broader themes of law firm management, but events like these make one wonder about the transition of law firms from collegial, lockstep partner compensation models from yesteryear to the more complex, performance-linked models of today. The latter have made firms more competitive and almost assuredly more profitable, but it also invites the sort of “fiefdom” approach that leads to satellite office partners throwing the firm into lawsuits to earn some cash for themselves even if those suits are damaging to the firm as a whole. Internal control measures can never perfectly police the divided loyalties that come with worrying about your own pocket and the firm’s at the same time.
That’s not to say that firms should turn back the clock necessarily. Paying partners what they’re worth improves the firm over the long haul. But it’s just a reminder that modernization is not without its downsides.
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In any event, Alec Beck, you make your bed, now lie in it with a complementary MyPillow!
Barnes & Thornburg Partner Leaves Firm After Representing My Pillow CEO in Suit [American Lawyer]
Joe Patrice is a senior 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. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.