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As we move into the holiday season, there are a few tips that every Biglaw attorney should keep in mind when it comes to holiday cards. First, get them done early! No one wants to be stuck hurriedly stuffing envelopes the week before. Second, remember to be inclusive. Regardless of your personal relationship to the holidays, realize that these are really professional calling cards so keep the tone as inclusive as possible. Is there anything else we’re missing?
Oh right… don’t make jokes about vibrators in your holiday cards. Apparently that was a reminder that Dentons needed to circulate several years ago.
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As covered by LegalCheek, a former Dentons trainee in the UK received a published rebuke over a holiday card sent to another trainee with a vibrator reference — allegedly a callback to something the recipient had said a few weeks earlier — and the message, “Wishing a sexy Yorkshire babe a great Christmas.” The recipient reported the card and returned the two presents that came with it.
While it’s still not a good idea to spice sexual comments into your holiday greetings, the trainee in this instance successfully appealed the case, with the UK’s Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal deciding late last month that inappropriate behavior does not necessarily trigger the attorney ethical rules.
But the adjudicator had failed to establish that it amounted to professional misconduct: “In her decision there was nothing to suggest that the Adjudicator had considered whether there was evidence which linked the Appellant’s giving of the Christmas card, to the provision of legal services, as required by Principle 6”.
So the professional rebuke is revoked.
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But the moral of the story is still sound: be very, very cautious when making explicit jokes in a professional setting. Even if you think some prior joke opened the door, your perception can be way off. Better yet, instead of being “very, very cautious,” just don’t do it.
Solves everything.
Ex-Dentons trainee wins misconduct appeal over ‘sexualised’ Christmas card [LegalCheek]
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.