K&L Gates Chairman Says Fordham Dean Needs to Join the 21st Century
The chairman of K&L Gates is blasting Fordham’s law dean for his decision to ban Reed Smith from campus interviews for five years.
“Someone should welcome the dean of Fordham Law School to the 21st century,” K&L Gates chairman and global managing partner Peter Kalis wrote the Pittsburgh Business Journal in an e-mail.
Fordham Dean William Michael Treanor imposed the five-year ban on Reed Smith earlier this month because of the firm’s late cancellation of on-campus interviews. Treanor said in a memo to students that the move conveyed a “lack of professionalism” and the firm should have made its decision earlier.
Reed Smith managing partner Gregory Jordan struck a conciliatory tone in an interview with the Pittsburgh Business Journal, saying he planned to meet with Treanor and noting “issues generated by the global recession.”
But K&L Gates chairman and global managing partner Peter Kalis wasn’t reluctant to criticize.
“There was nothing wrong with Reed Smith’s cancellation of interviews,” he told the Business Journal. “By contrast, there is plenty wrong with the law school establishment making law firms guess about their hiring needs a couple of years ahead of time. What other industry operates in such a foolish way? None I can think of.”
