Lawyer's Parking Lot Confrontation With Parents Gets Firm Fired
"There is a lawyer who is threatening a parent. We need someone here right away."
Whoops. And it was all downhill from there.
Christopher Kirby may currently be employed by Minerva & D'agostino, but he may not be for much longer. The associate attorney directed a profanity-laced tirade against a group of parents in a parking lot, and nearly came to blows with another parent, all because of an alleged smirking incident during the preceding school board meeting.
And, because it is 2013, the entire tirade (as well an earlier argument, and the smirk) were caught on tape:
(Warning: lots of offensive language)
Look, it can be easy to lose your cool. The cameraman apparently called him an "a--hole" moments before filming, as well multiple times during the film. Other parents are egging him on. There seems to be a history of litigation between the parties, per Kirby's comments. And after the two earlier confrontations, he was probably on edge.
That's all part of being a professional. Calling someone a fat "c---", while obviously being recorded, reflects poorly on you, and worse, reflects poorly on your firm. It's definitely a poor career decision, especially since YouTube and social networking will ensure that your tirade will be all over the Internet within a matter of hours. And when you apply for your next job, they'll Google "Chris Kirby" and find this amazing tirade.
Yeah, so most of the world now thinks that Chris Kirby is a bully. He may be. Or, this could simply be an isolated incident resulting from frayed nerves, a five hour school board meeting, and what seems like a toxic relationship between the parties.
According to the Journal-News, after the tirade, the school district eventually fired the firm. And if one were to Google "Minerva & D'agostino," they'd quickly run across the firm's Yelp! page, which currently has one and a half stars and multiple angry reviews pertaining to Chris Kirby's conduct. As much as we lawyers love to harness the power of social media to speak to potential clients, there is a flip side.
Expletives may be fleeting, but social media is forever.
Related Resources:
- Long Island Lawyer's Profanity-Laced Tirade Caught On Video For Your Enjoyment (Above the Law)
- Legal Lessons From Viral Videos: Social Media is Forever (FindLaw's Greedy Associates Blog)
- Video of Lawyer in Road Rage Fight Goes Viral (FindLaw's Greedy Associates Blog)