I recently met with a law firm Associate of a recent vintage, whose employment was terminated after a short tenure at her firm. She has no idea why she was fired, for the simple reason that the firm has not told her. She had received no complaints about her work and had even been given a few compliments. In the legal world, that is just about a ringing endorsement.
Her hours were down because her department was a bit slow, but they were still respectable. She had done what she was supposed to do by chasing the partners in her department for new files. She appeared to be bright, and personable, and eager to do whatever it takes to succeed.
So, how is it possible that she does not know why she was let go? All that was said to her was that the termination was not for cause. She asked for an explanation but was not given one.
Here is the part that rubs me the wrong way. A member of the Human Resources department conducted the termination. None of the Partners to whom this young woman reported attended the meeting. None of them spoke to her after the meeting. She has reached out to the Partners and asked them to assist her to understand what has happened to her career. Quite a few weeks after the event, she has received only an indication that a Partner would call her eventually. She is still waiting.
One would have thought that a Partner would have personally delivered the bad news, and an explanation as to why the decision was made. If the young woman had not met the firm’s expectations, she should have been told how she had failed and how she might want to do better at her next job. If the firm was undergoing a financial problem, losing a major client, about to see significant Partners jump ship, or there was some other explanation that had nothing to do with the Associate’s qualifications, a Partner should have at least told her that she was being terminated for reasons that were not her fault. The firm should have been fast off the mark to offer her help securing a new position, or at a minimum, offered a reference letter. Instead, they did absolutely nothing.
So here is why this story shocks me. Several senior partners at this firm post regularly on social media. They write about mental health, treating people with respect, and creating positive firm cultures. From everything that I have read about this firm, it portrays itself as being at the forefront of improving the legal industry.
And then they turf a young woman at a formative moment of her career, without even the curtesy of meeting with her and telling her why.
At my firm, our COO had a strong background in H.R. She would never have put up with this nonsense. She told the Partners that if they were going to fire a lawyer, they had to have the guts to be present at the termination meeting. It is just the decent thing to do.
This article was originally published by Law360 Canada, part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.