All of us compulsively following Memogate on Abovethelaw.com are having plenty of laughs at the management of BigLaw. One of the best, as Brian McDonough points out on Legal Pad, is from Morrison & Foerster Managing Partner Charles Kerr. In it, with full Catholic School nun rectitude he chastises underlings for, horrors, showing up after the 8 A.M. bell.
Great for us. But I have to wonder if the clients of BigLaw are also following Memogate. Those titans of industry have high-priced public relations talent, both in-house and at agencies, to keep them up-to-date on the appropriate tone, content and timing of every communications. Clearly, the clients have to notice that the trusty leaders of the law firm they use have minus-zero judgment about tone, content and timing, especially when they know the memos are being leaked.
All the heads of law firms, it seems, care about is keeping clients and getting new ones. If Memogate impedes that, you can bet the equity partners will drive the miscreant out of the firm. It's all about PPP and Profit Per Equity Partner. Hurt that, you get hurt.
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