Freshman
year
of
high
school,
I
had
this
amazing
biology
teacher
who
liked
to
sprinkle
homespun
words
of
wisdom
into
lessons
about
how
the
mitochondria
is
the
powerhouse
of
a
cell.
I
can
clearly
recall
one
tidbit
that
stuck
out
from
the
rest
due
to
the
insistence
with
which
he
told
our
class
not
to
make
enemies
of
your
neighbors.
He
said
if
you
need
to
argue
with
someone,
call
up
a
long
distance
relative
or
something,
but
you
never
know
when
you’ll
need
a
friendly
face
nearby,
and
good
neighbors
can
be
the
difference
between
the
home
of
your
dreams
and
of
nightmares.
That’s
not
a
lesson
that
Goodwin
tax
partner
Alex
Apostolopoulos
learned.
Above
the
Law
has
reviewed
emails
sent
to
the
whole
building
at
Apostolopoulos’s
residence.
And
he
does
not
come
across
as
a
good
neighbor.
The
exchange
begins
as
an
announcement
about
some
cleaning
and
accompanying
noise
in
the
building.
But
Apostolopoulos
—
using
his
Biglaw
email
address
—
changes
the
topic
to
a
personal
grievance:
a
fire
alarm
door
was
opened
recently
and
he
pins
the
blame
on
folks
in
a
neighboring
apartment.
He
then,
apropos
of
nothing,
dropped
a
slur
for
developmentally
disabled
people.
“The
[R
slur]
tenants
of
6W
opened
the
fire
alarm
door
to
my
terrace.”
Yikes.
And
the
property
manager
promptly
chastised
Apostolopoulos
for
“send[ing]
out
a
building
wide
email
with
inappropriate
language”
and,
here’s
the
kicker,
providing
photographic
evidence
that
it
was
not
the
residents
of
6W
who
set
off
the
fire
alarm.
How
embarrassing
for
Apostolopoulos.
But
he
took
an…
interesting
path
after
being
proved
wrong
—
he
lobbed
back
MORE
insults.
“Sorry
I
thought
it
was
the
insane
people
living
in
6W.
Tell
them
to
be
quiet
with
their
stupid
children.”
He
must
be
real
popular
around
the
building.
Above
the
Law
reached
out
to
Apostolopoulos
and
Goodwin
for
comment,
but
did
not
hear
back.
Listen,
an
aggressive,
never-back-down
attitude
might
be
rewarded
in
Biglaw
—
but
that’s
not
the
mentality
you
need
to
bring
to
your
home
life.
Otherwise
someone
in
your
building
is
likely
to
forward
a
problematic
email
where
you
use
inappropriate
language
to
a
media
source.
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 or
Mastodon
@[email protected].