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The news of the lawsuit brought by top Biglaw firm Proskauer against its former Chief Operating Officer continues to be fodder for Biglaw gossip. The complaint alleges the now-former COO, Jonathan O’Brien, downloaded 34 gigabytes of internal data to a USB drive before announcing he was leaving the firm. There are also allegations O’Brien attempted to delete emails subject to a litigation hold. The firm’s executive committee voted to terminate O’Brien’s employment when they filed the lawsuit.
Though the internal review that discovered the alleged downloads was triggered by O’Brien’s notice to the firm, it was unclear where O’Brien planned on working post-Proskauer. When pressed to disclose his future employment, court documents reveal O’Brien would only say firm leader would not be “happy” with his future employer.
Now, Law.com reports that O’Brien planned to work at competitor, Paul Hastings. Unfortunately, that opportunity appears to be collateral damage of the legal dispute. O’Brien’s attorney, Russell Beck of Beck Reed Ridden, said:
“While it is unfortunate that an apparent overreaction based on Proskauer’s mistaken assumptions has improperly interfered with Mr. O’Brien’s planned position at Paul Hastings, he nevertheless looks forward to resolving this entire matter quickly and continuing his successful career in the legal field.”
Paul Hastings had a much terser statement, “Mr. O’Brien is not joining Paul Hastings and we do not comment on any firm’s personnel matters.” And sources have sought to distance Paul Hastings from the allegations.
One source with knowledge of his pre-suit career plans said Paul Hastings wasn’t aware of O’Brien’s alleged wrongdoing until the allegations against him were made public in Proskauer’s Dec. 27 complaint, nor was Paul Hastings involved in O’Brien’s alleged theft of trade secrets or any other confidential information.
A temporary restraining order in the case bars O’Brien from from working or consulting with anyone with whom he has discussed or disseminated the material in question.
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 @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
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