Law Firm Discipline (RP with Jqw)

[Appleton]

It was a sunny afternoon at a prestigious law firm in rural Canada. The office was very busy.

Nathan (a 21-year-old law student doing a summer internship) was at his desk doing work on a computer. He had been told by his supervisor, managing partner Lawrence Kahn, to do a due diligence on all the firm’s electronic files. Nathan was quite a keen worker and he wanted to impress his boss.

After a while, Nathan found something very intriguing: a PDF for a job application resume. Was it misplaced? Why was this available? And it was titled as Laura Cohen’s resume no less.

Nathan’s excitement multiplied. Laura Cohen was a star performer at the firm, well-regarded by Lawrence. The 29-year-old female attorney was a high-achieving commercial solicitor; rumor had it that the career-focused girl was well on course to become the firm’s very first female partner. The partners consistently praised her case load and said she had a promising future. Despite being 7 years older than Nathan, Laura was totally Nathan’s type: a highly-motivated brunette with brains to complement her stunning looks. Like most of the guys at the firm, Nathan had an unrequited crush on Laura, though he knew she was well out of his league. He was just a summer intern (still in law school), meanwhile she was one of Canada’s top legal practitioners.

“No way…” he said out loud, clicking on the file to take a closer look. To his fascination, even the cover letter and a photocopy of the transcripts of her grades were in the same file!!!

The resume of Laura Cohen showed up. He read through it with great curiosity. Just as he expected, the brunette had straight As on her report cards, going to a top Canadian law school (the same one he had barely managed to get admitted to). She had amazing internships, prestigious moot court wins, and leadership positions in student government and law school extracurriculars.

“What an amazing girl,” he said out loud, feeling just a bit jealous, but more so impressed.

But then he noticed something: a long list of law school awards in the resume. He went to the same law school and he knew that this year, there were only five awards being offered and they had been won by five different students. Laura claimed to have won all five… and nine more awards on top of that!!!! Awards Nathan had never heard of. Unless the university removed those awards in the last seven years… but why would they?

Nathan couldn’t believe it. Honesty and integrity were core values at this law firm (Lawrence had always emphasized this). Could it be that years ago, Laura Cohen over-embellished her resume to get this job? That she lied?

Nathan looked around. Everyone else was still working, just a totally normal day at the office. Yet Nathan was quite sure he had found something important and highly unusual.

…

Nathan showed up in Lawrence’s office with a folder carrying printed copies of the files in question. He closed the door and took a seat after a while.

“Mr. Kahn,” he said deferentially. “It’s about the due diligence of the company servers. You told me to report any unusual findings. Well… I err… I found this.”

He handed the files to Lawrence.

“It seems that… well it seems that I may have found some irregularities.”

In his nervousness he wasn’t as cogent as he could be.

“I think it’s a copy of Miss Cohen’s job application seven years ago,” he added. “I’m not sure why it was on the server but… hmmm.”

[Jqw]

Lawrence Was busy doing paperwork until hehe heard Nathan come into his office until he heard him talk about Laura Cohen job application form”What do you mean Nathan?.aak Lawrence on what was wrong with Laura job applications form as he put down the paperwork he was doing to hear him out as he wondered what was the problem on the job application form and to see if it was a glitch in the system or did she make a mistake on her form a long time ago as he went to check to check out the form himself to see the problem.

[Appleton]

As Lawrence perused over the document closely, Nathan drew his attention to the awards section.

“Well here’s the thing sir,” he said helpfully. “It says that she got FOURTEEN special awards while in law school at the time of her job application. Have you ever heard of a single law student getting so many special awards in the span of their degree? It would be impossible since there’s only a handful awarded a year and the dean wouldn’t award them all to the same person to the exclusion of all other students.”

He took a breath before continuing. “I’m currently attending the exact same university that Miss Cohen did seven years ago. I’ve never heard of half of these awards; my instinct tells me they are fictitious. Law schools don't HAVE fourteen awards to give and they certainly wouldn't award them to the same person more than once. Do you think… do you think she could have lied on her job application?”

Nathan felt his confidence and excitement rise. This was certainly the most interesting day of his internship; it was like he was some kind of legal sleuth, except this was actually happening in real life!

[Jqw]

“I think your right.said Lawrence as he look at the job application form then went on his computer to look up the rewards that were on the job application form the search results can came up with no results ten times”You are right their are no awards match the one on the job application form.said Lawrence as he show him the results on the computer.

[Appleton]

Nathan looked at the screen.

“Wow I knew it, those awards are bogus,” he said excitedly. “So then, she really DID cheat on her job application! Should we- should we call the law school just to be absolutely certain?”

Nathan was thrilled. When he applied for law school, he had a vague idea that he might some day become a litigator or a prosecutor. Now he could see that it was a really good career fit. He really did have an eye for detail.

[Jqw]

“I’m already not it.said Lawrence as he took his phone and phoned the law school main office as he waited for the dean to pick up as he took the from the list the awards that were on the form and if Laura had really won any awards she calmed to have won.

[Appleton]

After jumping through some hoops, Lawrence was eventually able to get a direct line to the dean. The dean was a bit guarded at first but once it became clear that there was a potential ethics violation, he was willing to cooperate to the extent that he could.

He confirmed the following details to Lawrence:
1. Nathan was correct, 9 of the 14 listed award types were completely made up.
2. With the remaining real awards, Laura lied about having received many of them, and she certainly didn't win Most Promising Law Student twice during her degree!!!!

Once the phone call was over, the facts became abundantly clear.

Nathan looked at Lawrence excitedly, having put 2 and 2 together more or less.

"Mr. Kahn, this is serious isn't it?"

Nathan couldn't believe it. He was only in law school and yet he had successfully uncovered REAL WRONGDOING. He couldn't believe someone as attractive, intelligent and hardworking as Laura Cohen could actually be dishonest in her time at law school. he began to see the older career-driven brunette differently.

"Like... really serious? What now?"

[Jqw]

“I know.said Lawrence as he clenched his chair hand in anger as he was mad at Laura his star performer at his firm and she lie to him about the awards she got for seven years as he felt betrayed by her “Good find Laura tell I want to see.said Lawrence as he told Nathan to tell her he wants to see here.

[Appleton]

“Yes sir,” Nathan replied, standing up at once and feeling very thrilled.

…

Being a well-regarded associate, Laura Cohen had an office of her own. The door was closed when Nathan went to try and see her. Laura’s secretary Peter looked up from a desk just outside.

“Is Miss Cohen available?” Nathan asked politely.

“She’s in a conference call right now. Do you need to see her?”

“Well,” Nathan said, clearing his throat. “It’s not me. It’s err… Mr. Kahn.”

“The boss?”

“Yeah. He needs to see her, like right now,” Nathan said enigmatically. “I’m not sure she’s going to like what he has to say.”

Peter raised an eyebrow, looking perplexed.

Nathan added: “Please tell Miss Cohen this can’t wait, Mr. Kahn said it’s a matter of great importance.”

…

Nathan returned to Lawrence’s office.

“Sir, she’s in a conference call,” the intern reported. “But I told her secretary that you need to see her right now. I said it's important.”

Then he added: “Do you think you’ll need me for this? Or should I just go back to work?”

He was secretly hoping to hang around but he didn’t want to be too direct in asking. He was really curious to see how Mr. Kahn would deal with a situation such as this.

[Jqw]

“Yes I do.said Lawrence as he told Nathan he wants him to see this”I’m gonna teach you how to punish a bad employee women.said Lawrence as he went back to finish his paperwork work he was doing before Nathan told him about the job application form as he waited for Laura to come to his office as he continues to do his paperwork.