Cardinal Richelieu’s words came to mind when Alan Abelson, the
wry and engaging author of Barron’s weekly "Up and Down
Wall Street" column, considered the
fate of Boeing’s CEO, Harry Stonecipher, who as we all know tendered
his resignation to the Board last week after it was discovered
the (married) Mr. Stonecipher had engaged in a brief affair with
a (divorced) female Boeing executive—despite
the fact that this ungodly stupid frolic violated no express policy
of Boeing. More jaw-droppingly stupid than even that, Stonecipher
recorded his transgression unto time immemorial in an internal
email to his mistress.
What, you’re wondering, has this to do with the economics of law
firms?
We often pay lip service to the notion that reputation and integrity
are everything, but if this tale doesn’t hammer home the point,
nothing will. More germane for our purposes is that Stonecipher
himself, when he came out of retirement to re-assume the reins
at Boeing two years ago, did so with a mandate to be the Ethics
Czar and to instill a culture of zero tolerance of gray or borderline
practices at Boeing, which was just recovering from influence-buying
and theft-of-trade-secrets scandals.
As much as any CEO of an F1000 firm, each and every partner in
an AmLaw 200 firm puts not just their professional, but their personal,
repute in play every morning. The
career you save could be your own. Don’t f*#@ it up.
