Fired Biglaw Partner Sentenced To Prison For Cyberstalking Former Colleagues
Prosecutors said he showed a 'lack of remorse, or even recognition that what he did was criminal.'
On Friday, former K&L Gates partner Willie Dennis was sentenced to two years in prison following his October 2022 conviction on three counts of cyberstalking. As we previously reported, Dennis was accused of sending thousands of “harassing, threatening, and intimidating emails and text messages” to partners at his former firm between the years of 2018 and 2020.
Dennis’s problematic communications began shortly after he was fired from the firm, and his former colleagues grew fearful thanks to the violent tone of the emails and texts, complete with warnings like “I will find you” and “sleep with one eye open.”
Dennis represented himself during trial, and it was there that he ran into trouble with Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York, who threatened Dennis with contempt. During sentencing, however, it seems that Rakoff may have had a change of heart when it came to the defendant. The New York Law Journal has more information on that:
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Rakoff . . . said he felt “anguish” about sentencing a man who lived an “admirable” life, graduating from top schools and pursuing a successful legal career, before he began sending thousands of alarming messages to the victims in the case.
“A factor that is glaring beyond all else is the degree of fear and emotional distress that he imposed day after day, message after message on the victims of his crimes, and that cannot go unpunished,” Rakoff said.
Rakoff ordered Dennis to stay way from his victims, as well as from any current or former employee of the Biglaw firm he once called his professional home. “At the time, I was emotional,” Dennis said. “I didn’t think about right or wrong. I do know now that it was wrong.”
In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors asked Rakoff to sentence Dennis to four-and-a-half years in prison, noting his “lack of remorse,” and emphasizing that his former colleagues “remain fearful” of him.
In a statement to the court, Dennis apologized not only to his victims, but also to his former lawyer and Rakoff, as well as the judge’s legal and administrative staff, saying he’d failed to heed the judge’s “wisdom” as a pro se litigant.
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“I will continue to pay for that error for the rest of my life,” Dennis said.
Former K&L Gates Partner Willie Dennis Sentenced to Two Years for Cyberstalking Ex-Colleagues [New York Law Journal]
Earlier: Fired Biglaw Partner Convicted Of Cyberstalking Former Colleagues
Ex-Biglaw Partner Arrested, Accused Of Cyberstalking Former Colleagues
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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