Former Chadbourne employee's book announcement is short-lived
A former Chadbourne & Parke employee hasn’t had much success with his efforts to promote a new e-book about his experiences there.
Chadbourne objected to the former mailroom clerk’s press release about the release of his book, entitled The Law Firm That Called Me The N-Word, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) reports. The law firm had claimed the press release contained defamatory content, which led PR Web Direct to take the press release offline, according to this letter (PDF).
The book is written under the pen name Webster Edgewood, but the Am Law Daily story refers to him as Thomas, and the the PR Web Direct letter to refers to the author as Richard.)
Thomas had represented himself in 2008 when he sued Chadbourne for alleged wrongful termination and racial discrimination, according to the Am Law Daily article. Thomas had alleged that mailroom managers discouraged him from claiming overtime when he worked late, and that mailroom employees made inappropriate remarks, including racial slurs. He did not allege that any lawyers made such remarks, however.
Chadbourne & Parke had vigorously disputed the allegations. The firm settled the suit for $6,500 without admitting wrongdoing, the article reports. Some of Thomas’ lawsuit allegations were repeated in the press release, which drew the defamation allegations from Chadbourne.
Thomas had originally titled his book Going Postal, but he changed the name and revised the book to include information about a $100 million gender bias suit filed against the law firm.
Thomas told the Am Law Daily in a Nov. 22 interview that his book had sold only four copies.
