Jon Dileno, formerly of Zashin & Rich, had texted the co-worker describing parental leave as “collecting salary from the firm while sitting on your ass.” In the text, he also threatened to inform “anyone who inquires” that his colleague was “soul-less and morally bankrupt.”

Another attorney shared the text on LinkedIn, without naming names, to bring attention to toxic culture at corporate law firms. Dileno later told a local media publication that he sent the text and also apologized, noting that his text did not “reflect my values nor the values of Zashin & Rich,” Smart Company reports. “I am sorry for any hurt that I may have caused.” 

In an initial statement, the law firm’s managing partner, Stephen Zashin, initially condemned the text, noting that Dileno sent it “in the heat of the moment.” But hours later amid ongoing outrage, the firm put out a statement confirming Dileno was no longer working there. “Maybe you can get away with ‘heat of the moment’ over a phone call, but someone initiated a text conversation, typed a bunch of characters, and edited that message,” Joe Patrice wrote in Above the Law, a legal publication. “That's not heat of the moment, that's a sustained lack of professional judgment.”