7/9/06

I need to grow some cojones

I quit my job at the family law firm. There were some ethical situations that I was just not comfortable with. Of course, I could not use that as my excuse for quitting--this is a small town and I will likely have to deal with them again--so I told them that I wanted to put more time in the DA's office since I got my student bar card and I was getting to do hearings and other fun stuff. They were fine with that--but this morning I got a dort of dis-engagement letter, stating that since I was leaving "to work for the DA's office full-time" could I please put up my position on my school's job boards.

First, I never exactly said I was working for the DA's office full-time--and I'm not. Now I feel like I really told a lie. But, in this case, I guess a small lie is better than the truth. More importantly, I don't know what to do about posting on my school's job boards. I don't really want to foist the ethical dilemmas that I had to deal with on to one of my classmates.

Now the real reason I need to grow a pair is because of the other attorney who offices in that firm--we'll call him Slimey. He came in about a week ago and asked for my cell # in case he had some research projects. After I gave it to him he said, "yeah, its nice that you guys get free Lexis access, it really helps me out to have a student do my research". I was sort of shocked at the time, and didn't respond, but figured I'd deal with it if he ever asked me to do anything.

Soooo, the day I quit the firm, Slimey comes in and tells me about this new case he has picked up (he doesn't know yet that I have quit), and then manages to squeze in what he needs me to find out and where to find it--on Lexis. Again, I am dumbstruck, and truly don't know how to respond--especially since I have quit the firm and he doesn't know yet. So I just say ok, and he leaves.

So, of course I haven't done any of his research. I don't feel comfortable using my school account for this sleazeball--oh yeah, and I'm pretty sure there's an agreement in place that says I can't do that. I have got to deal with this guy head on and get rid of him, or he is going to haunt me. (He has already called 8 times in a 6 hour period because he forgot the alarm code at the office and I had my phone off.) I am usually pretty forward with dealing people--but I have always dreaded the sleazy salesman type--which is what this guy is. But if I am going to be a litigator, I am going to have to start dealing with sleazy lawyers, a little more forcefully than I have with Slimey. Uggghhh. I just want to be done with this whole bad situation.

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