This is an email from “Stephanie” regarding her trifling boss.

“I hope you put this on your site.  My boss qualifies as a dirty legal industry person.  I am a solo-practitioner now, but I used to work for [.......] for almost ten years.  During that time, there was a secretary, named “Mary”, who was a part-time evening law student and worked full-time during the day at the firm.  We were about the same age and we got along well.  We weren’t best friends, but I helped her with a few of her classes, her bar exam prep, and gave her pep talks.  I remembered how difficult law school was for me so I was willing to help her.  By the time I left the firm to focus on my practice full-time, she was waiting on her bar exam results.  We kept in touch via email once in a while.  I learned that she was offered a position as a staff attorney at the firm.  We both knew that she didn’t have the kind of academic performance required by the firm for that position.  She got the job because she already worked there.  I am a single mother with a school-aged child.  My practice isn’t bringing in regular business like it was before.  So, I decided to do a document review project until things pick up.  Well, the project is at the firm where I used to work and “Mary” is the attorney in charge of the project.  Recently, the clients visited the firm and walked in the area where all of the document reviewers were working with “Mary”.  There are only twenty of us working on this project.  Well, while “Mary” and the clients were standing there, “Mary” told the clients: “This is what attorneys that don’t pay attention in law school end up doing.”  Of course, everyone heard what she said and was pissed about it.  I was even more offended because I knew that Mary herself was on academic probation during law school and would never had been granted the opportunity to even interview for her position let alone be offered employment.   She has no clue what others had to go through.  She’s been working at this firm since she graduated high school.  She would be clueless if she had to go out on her own and try to find a job.  Let’s face it, being a staff attorney in charge of document review projects is not going to get you hired as an associate.   I just had to get that off of my chest.”