Lawyer Suspended for Christmas Party Misconduct: A Pattern, Not a Surprise
And lo, another lawyer has discovered humility and had the legal profession reaching for the smelling salts once again after another example of that old bad behaviour chestnut: the law firm Christmas party-gone-wrong.
Another day, another disciplinary hearing about a boozy, former partner with mea culpas and #Metoo moments abounding.
During the headline-grabbing ‘l’affaire Russell McVeagh’ in 2018 there was an audible but intense intake of breath about Shortland Street and Lambton Quay as non-Factory law firm partners crossed themselves and prayed their ‘incidents’ remained concealed forever in a buried vault.
In the latest episode in the galaxy of gerontic transgressions, Mr ZKA, with a pre-publication moniker taken from Marvel Universe the super-antihero has unmasked himself as Pat Mulligan, a former Buddle Findlay partner who thought that the best way to celebrate Christmas with colleagues was to channel the ghost of Weinstein Past.
Grabbing a junior staffer’s genitals at the office knees-up was a bold choice. However, waiting four years and a disciplinary tribunal to say “Sorry, that was wrong” was equally bold.
There’s a tired sameness to all of this, of course. The firm Christmas party where reputations often go to die and men – yes, it is men who generally provide the power dynamic here, although not exclusively so – is some boozed-up partner who regard such occasions as something akin to Tinder dates.
Offending gropers can bill $800 an hour for drafting a shareholder agreement, but appear to lose all motor function after two Aperol Spritzes and end up getting handsy and trying to “mentor” a young thing in the stairwell.
All the law firm talk of change, culture, and courage see law firms continue to operate on a simple principle: thou shalt not grope anyone at the Christmas party… unless you’re a rainmaker.
It’s a pattern. A tradition, even. One that comes with bad behaviour, worse apologies, and with the same “we take these matters seriously” catatonically tedious PR pronouncements about inclusion and good behaviour that gets dusted off.
In the law firm playing field of sexual harassment, nothing changes except the names, the PDFs, the endless references to respect, nurturing, values and the LinkedIn condolences.
If there’s one thing a law firm knows how to do, it’s release a statement. “We take these matters seriously.” They all do. Always seriously. Gravely, even. Often with deep concern. Possibly with learning opportunities.
Following Pat Mulligan’s self-immolation there was another reported case of bad behaviour by a lawyer at an unnamed law firm involving male bottom slapping, as distinct from the penis-grabs at the Buddle Findlay ‘do’, and the touching the ‘lower back’ of a junior female colleague as she left the room.
It was, the offender told the Standards Committee, misbehaviour without sexual intent but it nonetheless left the Committee needing to determine wider issues of appropriateness, social etiquette, sexual intent that has seen the Standards Committee become the True North on lawyers’ moral compass.
Must the disciplinary committees now recruit psycho therapists and a worthy from Waikato University’s Gender and Sexual Studies faculty to serve as one of their number?
The Female Majority and the Old Guard
The plot twist here is that most new lawyers are women. And unlike their predecessors, they’re less inclined to put up with this “boys will be boys” pitch. Which is bad news for the dusty corner partners who think #MeToo is faddish obsession past its #Usedby.
But the women have to be prepared to navigate a minefield of microaggressions, strategic smiles, and unsolicited compliments about their “poise under pressure”.
It’s not just a New Zealand thing. In the UK, they practically hand out NDAs with every promotion. In the US, firms don’t so much discipline partners as relocate them.
In Australia, the bar is so low it’s practically a tripping hazard. Recently, a senior lawyer there was alleged to have behaved “inappropriately” at—yep—another Christmas party.
What Should Firms Actually Do?
Perhaps law firms could start with the obvious:
- Cut the crap. No more 40-page “values” statements no one reads. Just say: Don’t be a creep. Don’t protect creeps. Fire creeps.
- Replace the “open door policy” with actual consequences. No one’s walking through that door if the partner on the other side decides promotions are performance-based… and not in the way you think.
- Reward decency, not just billables. Perhaps a partner who treats juniors like humans should be worth more than one who generates seven figures while giving “shoulder rubs.”
Law firms love a performance. Courtroom drama, theatre in the boardroom, post-scandal pageantry. But sexual harassment isn’t theatre. It’s damage. And the longer firms keep casting the same dodgy leads and pretending the script’s changed, the more talent will walk out, particularly as women edge slowly up the ranks.
The real scandal isn’t what happened at the party. It’s what happened – or didn’t happen – after the party.
Sometimes the law firms’ code of conduct can only be found in the bin, next to the glass ceiling.
