Letters to the Editor: How did two law partners’ bigoted, racist emails stay secret for so long?

To the editor: As a former equity partner at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, I was dismayed to learn about the circulation of racist emails at the Los Angeles law firm for more than a decade. Those emails were written by two partners who recently broke off from the firm.

My disappointment was especially keen because during the years that I was with the firm in the 1980s and early ’90s, the leadership made efforts to racially diversify its attorney ranks at a time when minority representation in large law firms was dismal.

But now it is difficult to square a diversity-welcoming environment with a place where two apparently racist and bigoted partners were formerly on the management committee.

Your article mentions that the two offending attorneys copied others within the firm on their emails. The fact that evidently no one raised the alarm about these emails contemporaneously suggests either that the racial animus extends beyond two “bad apples” or, just as badly, the employees who saw these emails didn’t see them as a problem.

Either way, I hope my former firm sees fit to determine how extensive racist sympathies run within its ranks and then address the issue appropriately.

Agustin Medina, South Pasadena

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To the editor: A cherished piece of advice I received as a freshly minted lawyer with Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith was this: Assume anything you put in writing will be read by a judge.

When reviewing my drafts, my supervisor told me that before posting a letter, I should re-read it and imagine my adversary introducing it as a court exhibit. That was a time when faxes were state of the art, but the advice applies equally well to emails and texts and whatever comes next.

I have followed that instruction ever since and thankfully will never know all the trouble it has saved me. Too bad the attorneys John Barber and Jeff Ranen had to learn this lesson the hard way.

Edgar Saenz, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Thanks to the great reporting that uncovered the shockingly bigoted and hateful emails of two high-ranking law partners — even as it exposed the dark side of some of Los Angeles’ elite professionals.

Perhaps these two Pied Pipers and their eager right-wing followers should now consider heading to Florida to set up shop. The repugnant political culture created there by Gov. Ron DeSantis should welcome these guys with open arms.

June Maguire, Mission Viejo