All Those Hatchet Jobs on Jones Day and More - Now The Backlash Begins

 Let's cut to the chase. The majority of responses are positive. Those are to the question on Reddit Big Law from a 2nd year litigation associate in DC about if they should interview at Jones Day. Essentially the consensus is:  Go meet those lawyers and find out for yourself what they are about. So far 63 replies have come in. Here is the thread.

It has been downright Shakespearean, that is, how the mob has turned on Jones Day Everything. That ranges from its black box compensation policy to its taking on MAGA and other far-right business. 

Most recently those piling on include The New York Times journalist David Enrich whose book "Servants of the Damned" goes on and on and on about Jones Day.

Up to the present time, Abovethelaw has made a hobby pointing out Jones Day's alleged sins of omission and commission. 

And, as a Human Resources communications expert and coach I am following the parental bias lawsuit "Savignac v. Jones Day." I would love this to get to trial to find out more how a major law has treated issues related to family. From what I hear from my coaching clients, there seems to be a growing hostility toward pregnant employees.

That’s a snapshot of the antipathy against Jones Day.

Concurrently there has also been something else going on. Even before so many stepped up in defense of Jones Day on Reddit Big Law today, common sense about the world as it is (and how business is developed and held on to) might have been sinking in.  

Consider, for example, that "Servants of the Damned" hasn't caught fire. That is despite all the initial publicity. Enrich, of course, is well-connected in the media. That worked up fine for him, at first.

Then, the breathless drama about villain Jones Day seemed to lose its audience. Although published recently - September 2022 - Enrich's book keeps slipping in Amazon ratings. It's at 47,928. It has only received 150 customer reviews - small potatoes for what was supposed to be quite the expose of the power and influence of large law firms. Maybe part of that drop in interest in a book targeted at the highly educated has been revulsion at the cheap shots. In addition to Jones Day they were taken at Gibson Dunn, Paul Weiss, and more. 

There’s more, of course that may be an unexpected consequence of this publication. The way Enrich vilifies some law firms and their creative aggressive lawyers, in itself that could have brought in new business for them. When we are in trouble we demand the best possible outcome. Those lawyers Enrich does hatchet jobs on pull out all stops to get those kinds of results. Prospects probably had the Ah-Ha moment when reading "Servants": That’s the law firm I will hire.

The message seems to be out: It's not going to get you much to put the knock on Jones Day. Not anymore. And maybe no one will any time soon try to do that to other large law firms. Isn’t piling on Big Law so out of “Hamlet”: "The lady doth protest too much, me thinks."  

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