Making the e-mail rounds, and repeated here at Above the Law (David Lat’s blog), is a resignation letter that’s engendered a great deal of discussion in the online legal community. You can read the letter at Lat’s blog.
While I applaud the letter writer’s honesty, this is just wrong, on so many fronts. First of all, while self-knowledge is a great thing, there’s an appropriate time and place to share that knowledge with others. Your resignation letter isn’t one of those times and/or places.
Second: pardon my bluntness but what the heck did this person expect? It’s impossible to graduate law school without realizing that corporate law is heavily concentrated in the transactional area and involves a lot of contracts. Impossible. (Note, I said graduate. That implies a minimal level of understanding the material presented, right?) This letter seems disingenuous on that front; if not, the only other alternative is that the writer was, frankly, ignorant of the job when accepting it.
Finally – you just don’t do this. Professionally speaking, you may be 100% certain and then some that you’ll never practice law again. Great for you. But you can never say that you will never, ever be in a position to depend on someone who read that letter in the remaining years of your life. You just can never tell. For that reason alone, your resignation letter needs to stay positive.
Realizing that on many (if not all) occasions, it’s incredibly hard to find positive things to say about your Big Law Soon-to-be-Former-Employer, I present this handy Inspired Solo Big Law Resignation Letter Template. Use and copy at will:
Dear {Partner Name}:It is with {some/great}* regret that I submit this, my letter of resignation.
I am grateful** for my experiences at {BigLawFirm Name}, and will never forget the time I spent here. {You may insert a brief anecdote here if you’ve got one that’s pleasant. If none, skip to close.}
Regards,
{MuchSmarterAssociate’s Name}
* – You know you feel regret right now. Either you regret the fact you’re leaving them in the lurch, or you regret that you’ll no longer have health care coverage, or you regret the years you wasted on them. See? Regret. Some or great, that’s up to you.
** – You can be grateful for lessons learned, right? If not, be grateful it’s over. Still – grateful’s grateful. And you know you’ll never forget it, try as you might.
See? Easy. Completely true. And it won’t leave people with the impression you’re either (A) unprofessional or (B) an idiot for having taken the job in the first place.
Technorati Tags: law firm resignation, how to resign your job
Print
email
PDF
del.icio.us
Facebook
Twitter
