“The State Bar?!” the guy yelled with a mirthless laugh. His eyes were practically bulging out of his head. “They’re not going to entertain this bull, Yasmine! This is a small situation, totally handled in-house.”
“But it wasn’t handled in-house, now was it? In fact, the house is corrupt.” Her eyes narrowed on him.
“Yasmine, come on… please. You and I have too much history for us to argue like this!”
“I tried to speak to you as one adult to another, attorney to attorney, friend to friend, but you would hear none of it. You’re wrong, you know you’re wrong, and that’s what’s most upsetting about this. I’m done being sad about it. Now, I’m just pissed. What has happened here is a violation.”
“Yasmine, this has nothing to do with any encroachments or violations you may believe have occurred.”
“You can’t tell the person who’s been shitted on that they shouldn’t consider the feces on their face to be a violation. You don’t have that right, Terrell.”
The man rolled his eyes, clearly trying to hold on to whatever pride he had left.
“It is not uncommon, nor against the law for me or any other partner, to take a case from one attorney and transfer it to another.”
“So, you admit it? You knew the whole, us working together,” she hooked her fingers in the quotes sign, “was crap.” The man’s shoulders slumped. “You won’t admit that Camden isn’t even qualified to research a case for us, let alone work on one of this magnitude. He doesn’t deserve to be at a prestigious firm like this. He’s a smear on an unblemished canvas. He’s not art. He’s a piss stain.”
“You don’t have the full picture, Yasmine, and you’re treading on dangerous territory by bringing up the Chicago State Bar.”
“Dangerous territory? Is that supposed to be a threat, sir?” They locked eyes, neither uttering a word for a while. Her heart swelled and pulsed in rapid fire within her. “Let me tell you something, Terrell. I’m not afraid of you or any of you guys in here! I have started from the bottom and climbed my way to the top, so if you think a bunch of entitled White men, with their first world problems, are going to have me biting my nails and playing the mammy, Hattie McDaniel, from Gone with the Wind, you are sadly mistaken. I’m not tapdancing for you! Steinman and Fairman have my blood, sweat, and tears soaked in the very walls and carpet fibers of this place! All the late nights and early mornings, no breaks, barely using the bathroom and trying to stuff a salad in my mouth within three minutes… losing sleep and peace, giving of myself tirelessly! I have shown nothing but loyalty to you and this firm and this is how you repay me?!”
“You’ve been committed, Yasmine, yes, but we’ve all worked hard and—”
“Don’t you tell me basically that, ‘All lawyer lives matter,’ when we aren’t talking about you! You aren’t the one that has been stolen from! You aren’t the one that’s been thrown under the bus by someone you thought you could trust! I have come in this place, sick as a dog, ready to work. I rarely took vacations. I have always, when accepting awards, spread the knowledge that I could never take all the credit for an operation that has so many moving parts. We were supposed to be a well-oiled machine, a team! I have pride in my work. Our clients knew they could count on me to give them the best representation possible. I sat in my office speaking to some of the most despicable human beings on this planet, trying desperately to find a kernel of humanity in them, something worthy of salvaging! I have also sat across from men and women who were practically saints, but had found themselves at the wrong place and time, facing long sentences for crimes they never committed, and I swore to them and their families that with every fiber of my being, I would do all I could to ensure justice was served!” She pointed a finger at him, angry beyond belief. “And I meant that! I have only lost two cases my entire time here, and one of those cases was due to evidence that came about at the last minute, and that was out of my control. Regardless, I took it hard!”
The man lowered his head and shook it as if she were someone to pity. She