How NOT to apply for a job

[ShoogarBear]

Link

The 'Bla Bla Bla' E-Mail Heard Around the World
Angry Would-Be Employer Sends Lawyer's Message Far and Wide

Feb. 19) - Two weeks ago, newly minted young Boston attorney Dianna Abdala e-mailed a prospective employer, William Korman.

"The pay you are offering would neither fulfill me nor support the lifestyle I am living," she wrote, turning down his job offer.

Korman was not happy.

"You had two interviews, were offered and accepted the job (indeed, you had a definite start date)."

He'd already ordered her stationery and business cards, and set up her office computer and was amazed she conveyed her second thoughts by e-mail.

"It smacks of immaturity and is quite unprofessional," he wrote.

Abdala's response? "A real lawyer would have put the contract into writing and not exercised any such reliance until he did so," she wrote.

"This is a very small legal community," Korman responded. "Do you really want to start pissing off more experienced lawyers at this early stage of your career?"

Abdala finally answered, "Bla bla bla."

An ordinary office spat? Nope. Korman forwarded the exchange to a friend … and it spread throughout the Boston legal community -- and then to the Boston Globe, to the International Herald Tribune, to ABC News' "Nightline."

It was the "bla bla bla" heard round the world -- making Abdala the most famous, perhaps notorious, 24-year-old lawyer in America.

E-Mail Gaffes

E-mail never has been more immediate, intimate and indelible -- whether FEMA director Michael Brown's e-mail jokes during Hurricane Katrina about being "a fashion god"; or disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff e-mailing about his clients, "These mofos are the stupidest idiots in the land"; or the executive of the drug company that made the banned weight-loss treatment Phen-Fen e-mailing, "Do I have to look forward to spending my waning years writing checks to fat people worried about a silly lung problem?"

Earlier this week in congressional hearings about Katrina, it came out that neither Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff nor Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld use email.

Our first response? Smart men.

[ShoogarBear]

Here is the e-mail train:

-----Original Message-----
From: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 9:23 PM
To: William A. Korman
Subject: Thank you


Dear Attorney Korman,

At this time, I am writing to inform you that I will not be accepting your offer.

After careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that the pay you are offering would neither fulfill me nor support the lifestyle I am living in light of the work I would be doing for you. I have decided instead to work for myself, and reap 100% of the benefits that I sow.

Thank you for the interviews.

Dianna L. Abdala, Esq.

-----Original Message-----
From: William A. Korman
To: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 12:15 PM
Subject: RE: Thank you


Dianna --

Given that you had two interviews, were offered and accepted the job (indeed, you had a definite start date), I am surprised that you chose an e-mail and a 9:30 PM voicemail message to convey this information to me. It smacks of immaturity and is quite unprofessional. Indeed, I did rely upon your acceptance by ordering stationary and business cards with your name, reformatting a computer and setting up both internal and external e-mails for you here at the office. While I do not quarrel with your reasoning, I am extremely disappointed in the way this played out. I sincerely wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Will Korman

-----Original Message-----
From: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 4:01 PM
To: William A. Korman
Subject: Re: Thank you


A real lawyer would have put the contract into writing and not exercised any such reliance until he did so.

Again, thank you.

-----Original Message-----
From: William A. Korman
To: Dianna Abdala
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 4:18 PM
Subject: RE: Thank you


Thank you for the refresher course on contracts. This is not a bar exam question. You need to realize that this is a very small legal community, especially the criminal defense bar. Do you really want to start pissing off more experienced lawyers at this early stage of your career?

-----Original Message-----
From: Dianna Abdala
To: William A. Korman
Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 4:28 PM
Subject: Re: Thank you


bla bla bla

[LONJAS]

did she get blackballed?

[ShoogarBear]

Well, it's only been a couple of weeks. She's certainly famous in the Boston legal community.

In her defense, she is kind of a hottie

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Is she hot?

[ShoogarBear]

Is she hot?

Great minds . . .

[LONJAS]

she needs some Lonjas in her

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Boston?

She does realize that "The Practice" and "Boston Legal" are TV shows, right?

[ObiwanGinobili]

Well, it's only been a couple of weeks. She's certainly famous in the Boston legal community.

In her defense, she is kind of a hottie

overbite.

[ShoogarBear]

overbite.

. . . can be sexy.

[Marklar MM]

LOL. Moral of the story. Don't piss off employers who know others in the same field in the same area...news travels.

[LONJAS]

i agree, but she just might end up with her own tv show or with some bad ass job......















mmmm...chikin....

[Old School Chic]

overbite.

[BigZak]

maybe she's blowing some other lawyer and had another job lined up.

[ShoogarBear]

I wonder if she does Contracts of Wifely Expectations . . .

[ObiwanGinobili]

(overbite). . . can be sexy.

really?
well what else do you find "sexy"?

lazy eye? third nipple? hairy mole?
please.... educate me.

[BIG DADDY JOSH]

3rd nipple might be interesting...lol

[tlongII]

Well, it's only been a couple of weeks. She's certainly famous in the Boston legal community.

In her defense, she is kind of a hottie

I'd hit it.

[tlongII]

really?
well what else do you find "sexy"?

lazy eye? third nipple? hairy mole?
please.... educate me.

Sounds like Obi is a hater.

[Mixability]

. . . can be sexy.

but painful...

[Marklar MM]

if it was this girl...I would give her a raise.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

I'd let her play with my gavel.

I'd like to help her with her briefs.

There'd be no need for plea agreements, because I'd enter her courtroom.

[Peter]

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRe...ticleid=126385

Law 101: Put it in writing? E-mail war heats up Internet

By Kimberly Atkins
Boston Herald
Thursday, February 16, 2006 - Updated: 03:26 AM EST

Dianna Abdala of Newton has been an attorney for less than a year, but lawyers all over the world already know her name.

A biting e-mail exchange between the recent Suffolk University Law School grad and a potential employer at a Boston firm reached the inboxes of attorneys from Boston to Berlin over the past week, making Abdala an unwitting butt of jokes in the legal community on how not to get a job.

It began with an e-mail Abdala sent to attorney William Korman earlier this month declining a job offer with his firm because the pay was too low.

“I have decided to work for myself, and reap 100% of the benefits that I sew,” she wrote, misusing “sew” for “sow.”

Korman, who said the e-mail surprised him since Abdala had already accepted the offer, replied that while he understood her reasoning, “I am extremely disappointed in the way this played out.”

Her reply: “A real lawyer would have put the contract into writing.”

The exchange went on to include Korman asking “do you really want to start p***ing off more experienced lawyers at this early stage of your career?” and finally culminated with Abdala’s final response: “bla bla bla.”

The e-mail, which Korman forwarded to a friend, quickly found its way around the globe, prompting young lawyers from as far as London to e-mail Korman, some forwarding resumes and others apologizing on Abdala’s behalf.

“It really does prove how small the legal community is,” Korman said yesterday, adding that he has since hired someone else.

But Abdala sees it differently.

“This was clearly a ploy to bring more clients into his offices,” she said. She has since started her own practice, saying she will do court-appointed criminal defense work.

But it doesn’t end there: Abdala said she filed a complaint with the state Board of Bar Overseers. “Attorney Korman threatened my career,” she said, “and I don’t think anybody would have been welcoming to such a threat.” BBO officials declined to comment.

Korman brushed aside the complaint, saying “this had nothing to do with the practice of law, attorney-client privilege or anything else that would warrant BBO action.”

[ShoogarBear]

really?
well what else do you find "sexy"?

lazy eye? third nipple? hairy mole?
please.... educate me.

Every feature cannot be considered as separate, but must be placed in the context of the whole person.

(I believe Spock said that once.)

But, since you're really asking about red hair, the answer is yes. :p

[Mixability]

she reminds me of a girl I used to "talk" to: