DirtyLAWndry reader - “Jill” - has an interesting story about her contract job that she wants to share.

Hey DirtyLAWndry! I am a contract attorney working at [a medium-sized firm]. This is the first legal job I’ve been able to get since I graduated last year. I hate it, but I have no other options at the moment. Anyway, we have two openly gay partners that … well … are each other’s partners. I honestly have no problem with that because I live in a big city and it’s not unusual to see lesbian or gay couples.

What I can’t stand is the constant bickering between the two of them. Whenever they have a fight (which is often and over every little thing), there’s always a huge battle royale and everyone in the firm has to know about it. It’s so weird because they expect everyone to take sides. And I mean everyone…even clients who may happen to be in the firm at the time. I just think it’s so unprofessional, especially when they start with the personal attacks on each other’s anatomy, the rolling of the necks, and the swaying of the index finger.

Most people laugh it off because they’re used to it, but I’m worried about the firm’s reputation. I plan on getting a better paying job once the economy picks up. This is the only real legal experience that I have and I’m worried about putting this firm’s name on my resume. When judges and attorneys learn where I work, they usually want to know about the partners and their latest antics in the office. It seems like they feel my firm is a big joke because of these two partners. Should I talk to the partners and let them know about our reputation outside of the firm?

DirtyLAWndry’s Quick Answer: HELL-TO-THE-NO! “Jill”, getting fired won’t look good on your resume either. I would keep my mouth shut. Besides, as a contract attorney, you don’t technically work for this firm. Your employer is the temp agency that assigned you to this firm. So, I believe you would have to put the temp agency’s information on your resume. Or, at least, that’s how it used to be. But, maybe I’m wrong so I will post the question for you.

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If you have a story you’d like to share with DirtyLAWndry, please email it to blog@dirtyLAWndry.com with “Reader Submission” in the subject field.

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DirtyLAWndry reader - “Meredith” - wants to know whether she is obligated to attend the holiday office party.

“My name is “Meredith” and I’m having problems at work. My firm has an annual holiday office party. It’s in December, but they send invites out early to see who’s going to attend. The party is held after work at a nearby hotel. We have many beliefs in our office, so the holiday party is very inclusive of everyone’s beliefs, even a handful of atheists. I was and still am the only black person at the firm. So, I guess to include me, the planners decided to incorporate Kwanza into the party. I didn’t know this ahead of time when I attended the party a few years back. During that party, there were African dancers and an African band. Then, my boss wanted me to say a few words about Kwanza. Well, I don’t celebrate Kwanza and it was pretty awkward when I told that to everyone. To make matters worse, my colleagues were saying how Kwanza is so important to African-Americans and they didn’t believe that I didn’t celebrate it. I tried to explain that not every black person is African-American. I am West Indian, but a permanent US resident. This went over everyone’s heads. Then, the party just got out of hand with all sorts of nonsense - stripping, flashing, people getting drunk, etc. Anyway, the following year I attended the holiday office party and again I was asked to tell everyone about Kwanza, which I still knew nothing about. And, again everyone got drunk. So, I stopped attending the office party ever since to avoid that situation. I’ve always been polite about it and come up with different excuses every year.

Well, the invites came out again this year and I declined to attend. Now, every week leading up to the party, there is always a Friday treat. Normally, we receive an email announcement and then head down to the lunchroom. During one of these treat breaks, one of the secretaries that plans the party suggested that the treats should only be for those who attend the holiday party. Well, I’m the only one who never goes to this party. So, I took it as a joke and figured she was just playing with me. Well, I haven’t received any email announcements since. Am I obligated to attend holiday parties? On the real, I just don’t like being around these people any longer than I am paid to do so.”

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If you have a story you’d like to share with DirtyLAWndry, please email it to blog@dirtyLAWndry.com with “Reader Submission” in the subject field.

Also, if you’re a solo practitioner or entrepreneur, I’d love to feature you on the Entrepreneur page (http://entrepreneurs.dirtylawndry.com/) of this site. For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Entrepreneur page.

In case you missed it, the ABA is lobbying Congress for student loan relief for struggling lawyers. They would like to see private educational debt converted to government loans for the deferment benefits that government loans provide. We all know that private lenders don’t provide any relief to law graduates. So, this is HUGE! What are your thoughts?

For more information, visit the ABAJournal.

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If you have a story you’d like to share with DirtyLAWndry, please email it to blog@dirtyLAWndry.com with “Reader Submission” in the subject field.

Also, if you’re a solo practitioner or entrepreneur, I’d love to feature you on the Entrepreneur page (http://entrepreneurs.dirtylawndry.com/) of this site. For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Entrepreneur page.

DirtyLAWndry reader - “Greg” - thinks that his boss deserves an honorable mention on the site. Here’s why:

“I work at a small firm in Philly as a paralegal. My boss is one of those annoying personal injury attorneys that advertise on tv with paid actors. He thinks these commercials make him a celebrity. He’s a slime-ball. First of all, he pays cops, cab drivers, ambulance drivers, and hospital personnell to give him information about potential new clients when there’s an accident or slip-n-fall. He’s always forcing us paralegals to go to the hospitals and basically pass out his cards or go into patients’ rooms and offer his services. I thought this was something that attorneys weren’t allowed to do. We’ve complained about this to the other attorneys at the firm because I was told that attorneys have an ethical duty to disclose this kind of information to the disciplinary board. Well, the other attorneys have done absolutely nothing, even though they know this is what’s going on.

Someone in my office found out that non-attorneys can contact the disciplinary board anonymously. A few of us figured that this would be the way to go because we certainly didn’t want to risk our jobs over this. The disciplinary board posted on their website that he was going to be disciplined and they had a link to his offense…for a second. Suddenly, now his record is clean as a whistle on the website. Apparently, the ethics committee must have been paid off or he has something on them. There was never any disciplinary action.

The ambulance-chasing issue wasn’t the only thing that we complained about either. He also has a habit of using client’s funds for his personal expenses, like trips to the Galapagos, spa treatments, wining and dining his runners, etc. He’ll tell clients they can pick up their checks on a certain day at a certain time, but we never have enough cash to cover the checks. So, when the checks bounce he tries to charm them with his “celeb-status” and just gives them the run-around. Now, I know for a fact that quite a few of these clients have complained also but still he has a clean attorney record.

Lastly, he’s been cutting back on our pay. He claims it’s the only way that we can stay open. We don’t believe him because we’re still getting a good number of new clients daily. His retainer fee is pretty high and most of our cases either get settled or arbitrated for $50K. So, we’re doing pretty well considering there are about 30 new cases every single day. That’s not bad for a small firm. Plus, he and his partner haven’t taken any cuts. I know it sounds like I’m complaining when I should just be grateful to have a job, but he’s getting away with a lot of stuff and it seems like no one wants to do anything about it.”

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If you have a story you’d like to share with DirtyLAWndry, please email it to blog@dirtyLAWndry.com with “Reader Submission” in the subject field.

Also, if you’re a solo practitioner or entrepreneur, I’d love to feature you on the Entrepreneur page (http://entrepreneurs.dirtylawndry.com/) of this site. For more information about this opportunity, please visit the Entrepreneur page.