This isn’t a good look. Biglaw isn’t known for being the kindest place to work, but you’d think — or at least hope — that a raging global pandemic would inspire some compassion. But according to a viral tweet that is not the case.
On Friday public radio producer and writer Starlee Kine tweeted out that her sister was fired from her job as a Biglaw paralegal. Her sister was widowed during lockdown, and the tweet says that the reason she was fired was because her unnamed boss “said she seemed distracted.”
Digging through the replies to the tweet, we learn that the widow was employed at Am Law 200 firm Carlton Fields — the firm made $198,752,000 in 2019 gross revenue making it 151st on the ranking. But despite that solid financial performance, this recent widow says she was fired.
And to add insult to injury, the now-former-Carlton-Fields-employee has to find health insurance during a pandemic. And as a Go Fund Me that’s been set up to defray costs reveals, the widow’s two year old (yeah, she’s a mom to two young kids) was recently diagnosed on the spectrum, so that’s another thing she’s dealing with. It seems rather than react with compassion given all that’s going on in this woman’s life, she was unceremoniously let go from the firm.
We reached out to Carlton Fields for comment, but have yet to hear back.
Best of luck to this recent widow — and everyone else who suddenly find themselves unemployed right now.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).