Page 46 of Partner Pursuit

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“That argument will win the motion to dismiss,” Audreysaid.

“You’re surer of yourself than when we last workedtogether.”

“I have three more years of experience.”

“But do you have what it takes to be a partner? I mean, we can’t very well have a partner who has to get pulled off a case because it’s too much work.” His voice was mocking, and he stared at her. His green eyes almost looked yellowish in the light, like a lion’s. “How’s that going to look to the client? Unprofessional. And that’s what it looked like to me.”

He stood and walked around his desk, stopping behindher chair.

She didn’t turn around. She sat up straighter. “I was on four busy cases that year, three of them yours. More than any other litigation associate. And I hadn’t had a day off in months.”

“That can happen as a partner.” He was still behind her.Like a voice ofdoom.

“I’m prepared for that,” Audrey said. She still didn’t turn around.

He walked back to his desk. Apparently, he didn’t like looking at the back of her head. Point forher.

Malaburn shrugged. “It’s a matter of emotional stability.” He smiled thinly.

Audrey gasped. He was deliberately trying to provoke her. He was the one who seemed unstable. She could feel her skin flushing on her face and neck. She counted to three in her head and thought of the yoga teacher’s chant.Let it wash over you. “I can handle a demanding workload, as I’ve done during my career here. Even that fall, I was still on three cases.” Her voice wavered. She stood. “Let me know what you decide about my proposed argument. I’ve got to run to anothermeeting.”

“We need more research on your two last points. They’re not compelling. I’ll expect a revised brief Wednesday,” Malaburnsaid.

“You’llhave it.”

“And take out that risky argument,” hesaid.

And he was criticizing her for not being aggressive.

She escaped from his office to the bathroom, where she washed her face with cold water to lessen the redness. She’d change the ending of the letter. That was easy enough. And not let his digs get to her. That was harder. He was just striking out at her—trying to throw her. He wanted a reason to say no to her bid for partner. She wasn’t going to give him one. She straightened her shoulders in the mirror and took a deep breath. It was time to be “on” again.

She rushed to her first meeting with Colette and the rest of the team. Hunter had asked Audrey to run this first meeting to give Colette time to catch up, although Colette should feel free to interject her own thoughts. Audrey feared that “interjection.”

Winnie and three other junior associates were gathered around the long cherry wood conference table. Colette was leaning back in her chair, arms crossed.In-housecounsel from Hen Bank, Genevieve, had also joined them. Genevieve lookedall-businessas she leaned forward, notepad on the table, pen in hand, her curly black hair pulled back by a barrette, but her stylish violet glasses made Audrey think that she’d be fun to befriend. Audrey wished that Genevieve wasn’t there to witness her first joint meeting with Colette; she had no idea how Colette was going toact.

Audrey launched into a discussion ofthecase.

“For our first argument—that Pierre called John to make the trade—we have the phone records as evidence. Mohan, were you able to get the recording of John’s call to his analyst Mike relaying that Pierre had just called him to make the trade?”

“Yes, yesterday,” Mohan said, afifth-yearassociate onthecase.

“What does itsay?”

“It matches exactly what John told us in his interview.”

“Excellent. That’s huge,” Audreysaid.

“For the second argument, everyone please look for a written authorization by Pierre. And continue to tag any documents showing that a higher level of supervision is being exercised over the account to ensure the trader makes appropriate trades on behalf of the client. Also, let’s do a thorough review of prior trades to find out Pierre’s trading history. Is he himself a risky trader? We want to argue that this trade was not excessive, consistent with past trades, and appropriate for Pierre. Mohan and Marcia, can you work with our expert witnessonthat?”

They noddedyes.

“Any emails or other documents in any way related to Pierre should be tagged. I still question why Pierre destroyed atwenty-yearfamily friendship for a $200,000 trade, especially since I believe John that Pierre was the one who wanted to make the trade.”

“Two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money,” Colettesaid.

“For me, yes, but Pierre’s amulti-millionaire. Hasn’t he had trades go bad before? Maybe we should look for that,” Audreysaid.

“Would that actually help?” Colette asked. “Wouldn’t that hurt us because it would show that he has lost money on trades before andnotsued?”