Jessica grinned. “We all love to take the meaty employment cases and take all your clients to task, but they don’t pay the bills—at least not on a regular basis. Family law and wills and estate matters are the bread and butter at a small to midsize firm. Only we get to pick and choose which cases we take. So, how are you doing these days, Kate? I haven’t seen you for a while. Still working with Tim?”
“I do,” Kate said and laughed when Jessica smiled at her with sympathy. Jessica had worked with Tim at Strauss and Fletcher years before Kate arrived. In fact, both Jessica and Tim had been in the running for the same position. Tim had ended up with the honor and a year later, Jessica Lund had left Strauss to join Price Bennett, now renamed Price Bennett & Lund. Jessica and Tim did not get on, Kate had gleaned over the years. “Don’t look like that. Tim can be a stickler for details and is maybe a bit of a micromanager, but I’ve learned a lot. In fact, he recently recommended me for a junior partner.”
Jessica’s smile turned speculative. “I’m not surprised. You deserve it. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t have been trying so hard to get you to jump ship for the past couple of years. It’s about time they appreciated what they had in you.”
“Thanks, Jessica. That really means a lot coming from you.”
“Let me know if you ever decide to change your mind. Come and be a David against those big Goliath clients of yours.”
Kate laughed again and rolled her eyes. “
You’ll be the first to know if I ever do.”
…
Just after four o’clock, Ms. Herrera’s documents arrived. With her breath held, Kate hastily skimmed the pages.
Most of the documents weren’t terribly harmful to their case. Except for two recently dated affidavits, which stated, in short, that despite her client’s insistence there were no previous complaints similar in nature filed against Mark, two former employees would say otherwise.
Kate’s earlier unease began to grow to a near panic, and she reluctantly picked up the phone to call Nicole and Tim.
“We’ll object to their admission and any testimony Mark gives about it,” Nicole said dismissively half an hour later and dropped her copies on to the desk before glancing over for Tim’s reaction. “And the other women’s claims are barred by the statute of limitations, so they can’t be added as parties to the lawsuit.”
The crackle from the speaker, where Mark and the CFO of McKenna were conferenced in, drew their attention. Mark cleared his voice. “Look. I have nothing to hide. Those two women were some of the worst employees we’ve ever hired. They never could do their jobs right and if I so much as corrected them, they cried foul. I never laid a finger on them. They conspired to make those stories up to try and hurt me. This is nothing more than a witch hunt.”
“So these two women did file complaints against you?” Kate asked, unable to keep her frustration and anger from her voice. Tim, who had remained silent so far, looked at her sharply.
“Give us a minute, please.” Kate recognized the voice as Jonathon’s, the CFO of McKenna.
There was a long pause and then silence as the client muted the speaker to confer. Another minute passed and Mark came back on. “As best as I can recall, I think one of the women had been upset with a performance evaluation and felt she had earned a higher score. So she complained to Kathy about it. When nothing came of it, she claimed sexual harassment.”
“Okay. I think I understand,” Tim said in his usual firm voice. “Why don’t you see if you guys can find any more documents about this complaint and get those to us ASAP. Unless you guys feel differently, I’m confident in going forward as scheduled. The sooner this is done, the sooner we can make a motion for summary judgment and get it dismissed.”
Tim paused as the two men on the other line agreed. It was hard to miss the way Tim’s gaze had rested on Kate at that last part. The sooner this is wrapped up, the better. No more delays and last-minute surprise documents.
“Sounds good, Tim,” Mark said. “I’m really relieved to hear you’re going to be around tomorrow. Thanks for your insight, Nicole. Kate,” he finished a little more stiffly.
“I don’t think he’s telling us everything,” Kate said when the call was disconnected. “I have a bad feeling about proceeding with this when we don’t know what’s going to come out.”
“Just because they find a couple of bitter and disgruntled former employees doesn’t mean we throw in the towel,” Nicole said.
“I think this is more than that, and I don’t think Mark’s leveling with us here, and if he can’t level with us, then—”
“Nicole,” Tim finally said. “Can you give me a minute alone to talk with Kate, please?”
Nicole cut her gaze to Kate. “Sure, Tim. I’ll wait in my office.”
After Nicole closed the door behind her, Kate spoke. “Tim, I know Mark’s a friend and all, but I’m not so sure if—”
Tim raised his hand, stopping her. “Kate. I usually respect your professionalism. Your ability to see through the crap to the legal argument you usually hit so eloquently. But today, how you spoke to your client—our client—was disappointing. It was disrespectful.”
Kate felt like he’d slapped her. “Tim, for months I’ve asked Mark and his staff to provide me any information, any names or details of complaints they’d received over the years against Mark. I was told repeatedly I had everything. The fact that Mark isn’t really even surprised by these allegations and now remembers one of these other complaints tells me they haven’t been up front with me. How can I put on the best defense when they’re holding back?”
“Come on, Kate. You know most of the time our clients walk the line on what’s the truth, what to come forward with, hoping against hope that if they forget something, everyone else will, too. That’s why we don’t really prod their memory too carefully. From what I’ve seen of this case, Mark and the company haven’t done anything that can’t be salvaged. If you have your head on straight and can stay focused on what really matters, that is.”
She bristled at his tone. “I’m thinking quite clearly, Tim. I don’t think Mark is the best guy to be laying our bets on.”
“You say you’re focused on what really matters?” Tim tented his fingers in front of his mouth and paused, almost melodramatically. “How about this pro bono case you spent the afternoon at? The afternoon when you should have been prepping with Nicole on this deposition. Can you really tell me your priorities are where they should be, Kate? You know, once you’re a partner—if you’re made partner—you’re going to need to figure out where your time and resources are best spent for the good of the firm. And hours of lost billable time on a messy custody battle is not one of them.”