Job Tips: You Can’t Take It With You

Littler Mendelson is accusing an associate of uploading more than 7,900 documents to an external Dropbox. While it remains to be seen how that will pan out, there is no question that lawyers leaving firms can be messy. The ABA has previously issued ethical guidance for when lawyers leave. How have you dealt with this situation? Is the situation different when it’s an associate leaving as opposed to a partner? Do you let departing attorneys take whatever documents they worked on? Does your firm have a policy on this topic? Does the departing attorney have any claim to take their work product on a file that was for the firm client of another lawyer? What lessons have you learned from this type of situation and what advice would you offer to someone about to leave their firm?

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