"Never Write a Letter and Never Destroy One"

Cardinal Richelieu's words came to mind when Alan Abelson, the wry and engaging author of Barron's weekly "Up and Down Wall Street" column, considered the fate of Boeing's CEO, Harry Stonecipher, who as we all know tendered his resignation to the Board last week after it was discovered the (married) Mr. Stonecipher had engaged in a brief affair with a (divorced) female Boeing executive—despite the fact that this ungodly stupid frolic violated no express policy of Boeing.  More jaw-droppingly stupid than even that, Stonecipher recorded his transgression unto time immemorial in an internal email to his mistress.

What, you're wondering, has this to do with the economics of law firms?

We often pay lip service to the notion that reputation and integrity are everything, but if this tale doesn't hammer home the point, nothing will.  More germane for our purposes is that Stonecipher himself, when he came out of retirement to re-assume the reins at Boeing two years ago, did so with a mandate to be the Ethics Czar and to instill a culture of zero tolerance of gray or borderline practices at Boeing, which was just recovering from influence-buying and theft-of-trade-secrets scandals.

As much as any CEO of an F1000 firm, each and every partner in an AmLaw 200 firm puts not just their professional, but their personal, repute in play every morning.  The career you save could be your own.  Don't f*#@ it up.