Biglaw Staff Member Arrested In Sting Operation By Vigilante ‘Creep Catching Unit’

This isn’t To Catch a Predator, it’s the new spinoff, To Catch a Legal Secretary.

onJanuary 31, 2023 at 10:44 AMJanuary 31, 2023 at 10:40 AM

Handcuffs and Fingerprints We have some alarming news to report on from California, where a staff member at one of the most successful Biglaw firms in the country stands accused of attempting to initiate sexual contact with a minor.

Micael Barnum, a legal secretary at Morrison & Foerster’s Los Angeles office, was arrested on January 28 in Alhambra, California, in the wake of a vigilante sting by a group known as the Creep Catching Unit (CC Unit). The CC Unit claims that it used a social media account to lure Barnum to the L.A. suburb for an alleged sexual encounter with an underage boy. The American Lawyer has the details:

Barnum was arrested on a felony charge of contacting a minor with the intent to commit a crime involving the minor, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He was bonded out of custody on Sunday.

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A MoFo spokesperson said the firm is aware of Barnum’s arrest: “Although to our knowledge nothing in the reports pertains to workplace-related conduct, Mr. Barnum was immediately placed on administrative leave from the firm pending further review.”

Morrison & Foerster Legal Secretary Arrested in Los Angeles Sting Operation [American Lawyer]

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.