Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Akin Gump Coworker

Freedman v. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, D.C.C.A. no. 96-CV-961 (Sept. 1, 1998), Record on Appeal at 188:

4. On no occasion in my three and one-half years association with the firm did I ever go to lunch with an Akin Gump employee. On no occasion in my three and one half years association with the firm was I ever asked by an Akin Gump employee to join him or her for lunch. The few times I went to lunch with others were with agency-supplied temporaries, Gwen Lesh, John Falk, Sandra Jones, Conleth [last name?], and Dexter [last name?]. The three firm employees whom I asked to lunch initially agreed then later declined. They were Dick Stanke, Jesse Raben, and Matthew Erskine.  Akin Gump is an organization of some 400 persons.

On March 21, 2010, Mr. Falk sent me the following message on an Internet social networking site:

Hi Gary,

It was good to hear from you. I didn't remember you at first, but Googled the information and it all came back to me. Thanks again for the fine Upmann cigar you gave me when I left Akin Gump. It was a pleasure working with you.

It was me who found your blog (I am in xx now). I am sorry to hear about your travails with the firm. You always struck me as someone who had some special talents, and maybe would rather be doing something other than being a paralegal. I can now see that you have an amazing gift for writing, and could easily see you writing a compelling Kafka-esque book or screenplay.

It sounds like you probably need to get out of a rut in Washington, and put your talents to an extremely productive use. After pouring through several pages on your blog site, I really did not find you to be psychotic. I think leaving Akin Gump created a trauma for which you could not cope, and that put you into a different psychological state. I am no psychiatrist, but that was my general impression.

I will check you blog periodically, but please confirm that you got this message. I don't want to have the impression that some mystery person is tracking you.

I wish you well. My time is limited, but please feel free to contact me back if you would like my direct contact information and would like to stay in touch.

All the best,

John

John Falk

1 comment:

My Daily Struggles said...

The irony is that Franz Kafka worked for an insurance company (like John Falk, I might add).