If you’re planning on leaving your firm, don’t be obvious about it. If you really want your departure memo to come as a surprise, don’t let your colleagues read the writing on the wall....
Every now and then, you'll come across a colorful farewell message penned by a partner. One such email, sent out last Friday by a longtime partner leaving a major law firm, is now making the rounds. Here's a teaser: "I have realized that I cannot simultaneously meet the demands of career and family. Without criticizing those who have chosen lucre over progeny, let me just say that I am leaving the practice of law." Wow. So who's the partner in question, which firm did he just leave with such flair, and what's he planning to do next?
Do you remember our Lawyer of the Month for March, Tyler Coulson? He’s the former Sidley Austin Chicago associate who decided that he’d rather walk from Delaware to California than do another day of lawyering. Is he still alive, or did he get eaten by a bear?
The economy must be heating up, because lawyers are leaving their jobs to do all kinds of crazy things. I mean, maybe the legal economy is still crappy, since these people aren’t leaving for other legal jobs. But there must be a general sense of optimism if all of these people have decided to just […]
On Wednesday we wrote about the great departure email sent out by Brian Emeott, a former corporate associate at Skadden in Chicago. Emeott, a 2004 graduate of Harvard College and 2008 graduate of Harvard Law School, picked up and moved to Kathmandu, Nepal. Brian’s wife, Claudine Emeott, resigned from her own job in December and […]
Young lawyers of Chicago: What the heck is going on with you people? You seem to be losing it. Has the brutal Chicago winter driven you crazy? Do we need to put The People’s Therapist on the next plane to O’Hare? Let’s look at the evidence. You’re quitting prestigious and lucrative law firm jobs to […]
Reading law firm departure memos is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get. Sometimes you taste bitterness. Sometimes the flavor is spicy hot. Sometimes you get a little Costa Rica crunch. And sometimes you get… this, which was sent to everyone at Sidley Austin yesterday by an associate leaving […]
As I mentioned on Friday, today is my last day as a daily contributor at Above the Law. I’m off to write about The Not-So Private Parts for Forbes. It’s been two and a half years since my first post for ATL. What have I learned about lawyers since? After the jump is a list […]
Have you had the privilege of voluntarily leaving your Biglaw job? I have, and let me tell you, the last day is a special kind of awesome. You kind of walk around, taking a survey of things you no longer have to deal with. Many of your friends and colleagues look at you with envy […]