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how to save a reputation

post #1 of 36
7/7/10 at 3:38am
Thread Starter 
I work at a Chinese law firm. After attending some international conferences, my boss (a partner at our firm) used the name and fee schedule of a partner at a prominent western law firm so that she could get the fee schedules of our competing Chinese firms.

Needless to say it backfired and I'm playing cleanup. If this firm speaks badly about us it will stifle our international marketing efforts before they even get started. I already sent a very concerned and cooperative email to her asking her to provide the emails in question and that we would do whatever we could to assuage the embarrassing situation. Thing is we can't say it was a high up person in our firm.

So, I'm left with telling a story or blowing her off completely at this point. I want to prevent blowback.

My idea was to fess up to everything and give her the copies of the emails that she requested (so that she can adequately play damage control on her part) but shift the blame onto an imaginary intern that was trying to find a short cut while developing our latest pricing schedule.

It gives the partner their pound of flesh and seems like the most favorable way out for our firm. There's a lie involved but more of a white lie. Is there any other way to go around this one?
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post #2 of 36
7/7/10 at 3:44am
who's her? your boss / competitor / person at the western law firm? Im confused. If your boss did it then that suucks for them. Maybe Im not following but If your boss is looking to cover it up why cant they just blame anyone else at the company, swear that heads will roll and brush off the incident?
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post #3 of 36
7/7/10 at 4:47am
Thread Starter 
sorry...to clarify my boss is the one that did it. She just wants to ignore that firm but i dont think its the best idea. I think blaming someone at our firm is the only thing to do...
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post #4 of 36
7/7/10 at 6:34am
Nah man, that plan will only make it worse. Release everything in one big dump at 5pm on a Friday. Pretend nothing happened on Monday. Works like 90% of the time.

Actually, you should find an intern in between now and Friday and force him/her to do exactly what you're planning to use as an excuse. If they get uncomfortable, just lean against the nearest wall and stare somewhere in the near distance (never making eye contact, of course). Then say, "nah, it's cool" as flat as you can while still conveying you're minorly anoyed they would even ask you that question. Kind of like what you would do if you were simultaneously sighing and exhaling cigarette smoke out of your nostrils.

Just ruin this intern. Using the full name as much as you can.
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post #5 of 36
7/7/10 at 2:36pm
i dislike working for firms with an apparent lack of integrity, especially in the easiest of decisions.
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post #6 of 36
7/7/10 at 2:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sho'nuff View Post
i dislike working for firms with an apparent lack of integrity, especially in the easiest of decisions.

With the exception of that (^), I'm going to assume, for your sakes, that everything written here so far is a big fat fucking joke and that none of you are really attorneys and that none of you are as low life as you're coming across.
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post #7 of 36
7/7/10 at 3:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peak and Pine View Post
With the exception of that (^), I'm going to assume, for your sakes, that everything written here so far is a big fat fucking joke and that none of you are really attorneys and that none of you are as low life as you're coming across.

Or at least just not attorneys
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post #8 of 36
7/7/10 at 3:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peak and Pine View Post
With the exception of that (^), I'm going to assume, for your sakes, that everything written here so far is a big fat fucking joke and that none of you are really attorneys and that none of you are as low life as you're coming across.

not attorney but definetly low lifes.

How about you get off your high horse and dole out some of your knowledge to us peasants... let me guess, you're one to take the high road "I'd NEVER work for a company like that!"
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post #9 of 36
7/7/10 at 3:35pm
Another indication of the high ethical standards of Chinese firms!
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post #10 of 36
7/7/10 at 4:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peak and Pine View Post
With the exception of that (^), I'm going to assume, for your sakes, that everything written here so far is a big fat fucking joke and that none of you are really attorneys and that none of you are as low life as you're coming across.

Low life, but upper-level. Not actually an attorney. Ok, would it be less offensive if he hired the intern as a paid intern?
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post #11 of 36
7/7/10 at 9:55pm
Thread Starter 
my boss mentioned something about not changing enough information on the email she sent out...fucking a. it's definitely some low-life shit, but my current job is to dress up this pig as well as I can. Any real advice?
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post #12 of 36
7/8/10 at 1:06am
How bad do you need the job? I'm assuming you're an associate attorney who isn't trained to deal with this crap, not a PR person or something, right? You should make sure the other partners in the firm know how this situation happened. Your boss created a terrible situation, put this on your boss to figure out how to fix the mess. Don't lie. I'd say throw your boss under the bus if you have to, but that's not easy to do and still keep the job, I suppose...
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post #13 of 36
7/8/10 at 1:14am
Thread Starter 
I'm in our biz dev side...my background is econ and marketing not law....so this is pretty important. I'd like to keep the job but highly doubt that I would get fired over this, because frankly the founding partner and my semi-boss who caused the mess don't really give a shit. The semi-boss told the founding partner that she did it anyway so I'm not TOO worried about my job here...should i be? Need is a relative term..i moved here from another firm about a month and a half ago...so i don't want to change anytime soon. That being said the work I do is in high demand and I'm sure i could get an equal or higher salary in a matter of weeks at a competing firm. I'm the one trying to look out for our future reputation for the conferences and biz dev work i have to do later will be a million times harder if we're a bunch of shady Chinese 2nd rate attorneys.
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post #14 of 36
7/8/10 at 12:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Davidko19 View Post
How about you get off your high horse and dole out some of your knowledge to us peasants... let me guess, you're one to take the high road "I'd NEVER work for a company like that!"

My horse needs to be only pony height to be above the shit you've suggested. I have been stuck in situations like what's described. I think Nixon was too. Don't cover anything up. Get it out and move away.
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post #15 of 36
7/8/10 at 12:46pm
Off topic, but I have to admit I got a little scared reading about Chinese Law Firms. I have this horrible image in my head of people outsourcing legal work to the third world, just like we do with everything else. I got into this stupid field because I had hoped to be able to make a living, but I don't see how I could compete with low-price, low-quality Chinese junk.
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