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The job offer at Meehan, Boyle, Cohen, and Schafer’s new firm is one that’s extremely attractive. The job is lucrative, and their proven skillset, successful business model, and the opportunity to join a new, promising business offers perhaps unlimited potential. Considering these factors strictly from the perspective of an employee being offered a job at another firm, they are undeniably attractive.

If I were to decide to leave the employment of Parker Coulter, I would need to follow agency law requirements, and those agreed upon at the time of hiring; likely a notice of resignation wherein I would notify Parker Coulter within the prescribed time-requirement, and any other (confidentiality, non-compete-style, perhaps) requirements. Following such, from an agency law and strictly business standpoint, such a move would seem understandable, acceptable, and even legal.

But there is another ethics-specific factor pertinent to accepting a job at MBC that impacts my decision, and that is the history behind the founding of this new legal organization. Specifically, I must face the issue of whether I can, in good conscience, knowledgeably join with a firm that was founded, in part, with a (court-established) breach of fiduciary duty. I will elaborate…

Three points of complaint were brought against MBC partners by (my current) their former employer, Parker Coulter. The first two were not upheld by the appellate court, but the third was: that of “unfairly acquiring from clients and referring attorneys consent to withdraw cases to MBC.” Rodney D. Chrisman, Logia of Business Organizations Law for Paralegals 33 (2011). Further, with the lies and denial about leaving on the part of the founders of MBC, they breached a “duty to render true things in relation to partnership.” Id. at 34. Meehan also delayed providing his partners with a list of the clients he intended to take, and the letters he sent to clients were unfairly prejudicial: “Meehan and Boyle continued to use their position of trust and confidence to the disadvantage of Parker Coulter.” Id. Finally, news of their departure created confusion, and, “by engaging in these preemptive tactics…violated the duty of utmost good faith and loyalty which they owed their partners.” Id.

Further, such practices are inconsistent with a biblical worldview: see 1 Corinthians 4:2: “It is required of stewards that they be found faithful…” and Proverbs 11:1: “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.” Clearly, such actions are unacceptable to God, which should be our ultimate concern and standard of determination.

So, wherein these acts show a lack of both biblical and fiduciary duty, a breach of partnership obligations, and were used to establish the foundation of this new organization, I would choose not to join the MBC firm. If I were looking for a better job, I would find a competitor whose practice was founded on faithful principles.