Quote:
Originally posted by Sidd Finch
An absolutely scathing letter from a former Brobeck senior counsel. Can anyone reprint it here?
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For Brobeck Staff, No Sigh of Relief
The Recorder
06-20-2003
In "Brobeck Chipping Away at its Citibank Debts," [June 16] The Recorder reports that Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison "may be breathing a bit easier after shedding more than half its debt load." A minor, but significant, correction is in order. While the former Brobeck partners may be breathing a bit easier, hundreds of former Brobeck staff members are not. No such relief for the loyal employees who can't find new jobs, for those who've lost their homes, for those whose medical benefits were cut off without COBRA, for those who got no severance pay and couldn't use their 401K money to live on because the funds were frozen. No breathing easier for the hundreds of loyal employees who continue to suffer; no breathing easier for all the former employees who continue to feel cheated and betrayed by the Brobeck partners.
After giving or letting Citibank take the reported $30 million, the Brobeck partners can breathe easier because they have reduced their individual and personal liability to Citibank. Apparently, the partners aren't concerned by the fact that they have failed to pay their employees compensation still owed from 2002 and have failed to reimburse expenses employees incurred at the partners' direction. And they don't seem concerned that their employees are stuck with medical and dental bills because premiums taken from employees' paychecks in 2002 were not paid to the medical and dental insurers. Current and future employees of any of the former Brobeck partners might be concerned. Current and future clients might be concerned. The U.S. Department of Labor, various state labor departments, attorneys general, and bar associations might be concerned. But it becomes ever more apparent that neither Citibank nor the Brobeck partners seem concerned that they are paying down their debt with money that belongs to their former employees.
The Recorder article ends with a quote from Steve Snyder, the head of Brobeck's so-called liquidation committee: "Some people just see an opportunity there." What amount of hubris might keep the Brobeck partners from seeing how well those words describe the mistreatment of their former employees?
Jayne Loughry
San Francisco
Editor's note: Jayne Loughry is a former Brobeck senior counsel and a plaintiff in the employee suit against the firm.
