Partner Quits Law Firm Over Vaccine Requirement -- His Farewell Email Is Something To Behold
The bare minimum of social responsibility is too much for some people.
The firm of Lane Powell finds itself down a shareholder, but something tells me it doesn’t mind a bit. The firm, founded in 1875, comes in at #272 on the National Law Journal’s 2021 NLJ 500, and has offices located in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. And like so many workplaces, they’ve instituted a vaccine mandate. As we are about to start our third year of the COVID pandemic with a new variant on the rise, it seems an incredible prudent policy.
But, because we live in the worst timeline, not everyone agrees. Of fucking course.
Now-former partner at the firm, David Warner, decided to quit the firm over the vaccine mandate. Peachy. But rather than just go quietly without kicking up a fuss, he decided to spam the entire firm with his insipid thoughts on FREEDOM and not submitting to orders. Sigh. Yes, of course lawyers *should* be well-versed in the constitutionality of vaccine mandates, but that doesn’t mean some don’t see a hill to die on.
This isn’t the first attorney who has left their job over the eminently reasonable vaccine requirement and felt the need to spew words in everyone’s inboxes. You can read Warner’s email below — but be warned– it is infuriating (of course he signs off with a “let’s go Brandon!!!” before taking a pot shot at trans/nonbinary folks).
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — attorneys are free to leave their high-powered jobs for whatever reason they want. But broadcasting reasons like this lets the world (including clients) get a look at your logic skills. And folks can reasonably infer that suspect reasoning on vaccines is a poor indication of legal reasoning.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).
