www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-lawyer-kc-field-rob-rakochey-resigns-email-1.7207814
Calgary lawyer resigns from firm after sending 'disturbing' and 'misogynistic' email
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15d
Your transphobia is pretty brutal no? You are not friends with canadians.
Didn't think I'd be reading "balloon knot" in a CBC article today.
What’s that mean?
Asshole. Looks like a balloon knot.
😳
🎈 💋
Imagine writing an internal email so bad it makes national news.
*international news
Internalnational
You know it's a good one when you think you're having a stroke
The entire email is attached to the bottom of the article. It’s gloriously inappropriate to send to all of your coworkers.
Some of the jokes start out ok, and then just go waaaay to far for a workplace email.
Way too far and waaaay too long.
I would’ve been unphased by this misconduct because I would’ve opened the email, seen the wall of text, checked the subject, and promptly deleted it.
Ya the guy wrote a fucking novel. Like dude, chill.
I can only imagine how long it took to type using only their index fingers while wearing their glasses at the tip of their nose.
Nah he recorded it on a voice recorder and had his poor secretary type it up after he not-so-subtly tried to look down her shirt and told her "you'd be prettier if you smiled more often."
Cocaine. A few lines turned into 2000 words.
Some dudes (and even some women) fetishize misogyny. This guy is one of them, and and I'm willing to bet he was getting off to writing it, hence how long it goes on for. This was probably wank material to him.
I tend to move on very quickly from any emails sent en masse. There's one particularly obnoxious lawyer at the firm I work at who likes selling tickets, I guess. Mostly for basketball. Fine, whatever. But he emails everyone at once, and its a large firm.
Its like man, this isn't Craigslist. Act like a professional or GTFO.
Pretty sure he's a partner too.
Anyway he's conditioned me to ignore every single email with his name on it because its bound to be some bullshit.
It's like a missive of bad taste, stupid sexist/racist jokes and inferences, and the fact that he mentions Oscar Wilde is even more amusing.
He thinks he's fucking hilarious. My god, he must have been awful to work with.
oh god yes...he's obviously one of those loudmouths who thinks EVERYTHING he says is fucking hilarious, probably blabs over women when they talk, and thinks his stupid dick jokes are just a gas! he probably never shuts up. I'm sure they're all glad to be rid of him, particularly the female staff as well as any gay, POC, Jewish or indigenous employees.
he could have just written a little note about the tournament and say it all in a couple of paragraphs. But no, this blowhard had to turn it into a shitty novella because HE's SUCH A FUNNY GUY! HUHUHUHU!!
He sent this just before 10am. Having worked in Calgary, I know a lot of downtown business types start drinking at 11. Somehow this makes it worse that he was sober.
The context is really the problem.
If it was just frat boy humor between friends I don't think it would be a problem. Once it is part of company emails it opens you up to sexual harrassment lawsuits for creating a hostile work environment.
"If it was just frat boy humor between friends I don't think it would be a problem."
Misogyny, transphobia, and homophobia live on.
My thought exactly… “just locker room talk”
Someone should put recording devices in men’s locker rooms across the country and just publish what they say.
You do know there is a difference between fiction and non fiction right? Like someone playing a violent video game doesn't mean they want to kill people.
Just like someone saying words to elicit a response from friends doesn't mean that's what their heart actually is.
People with nuance can separate the 2. You apparently can't.
You don't understand the absolute batshit crazy stuff that gets said on a late night EMS shift or after 2 weeks on a field exercise. Stuff that the same people would never say on polite company and would even agree is wrong to say normally.
It's important to recognize consent within a tight-knit group and how communication within that group vs greater society interrelates.
But, that's exactly the problem. The idea that people are comfortable with having these sorts of conversations in private is proof that there is a covert culture of misogyny, transphobia, and homophobia in these circles.
It’s not a problem, because it’s not the business of anyone outside of that tight-nit group. And “transphobia” has come to mean anything from acknowledging biology to not believing men should be in women’s sports, so to most of us outside the “activist” class, it means nothing.
It is a problem, because these ideas and attitudes influence how people treat others, not just behind closed doors.
Yes there’s a covert culture of what you have listed, but what you gonna do about it?😂😂😂You can’t change human nature, babe
Those things I mentioned are learned; they are not human nature. Luckily things are changing. It's just a bit slow.
Things aren’t changing. My son’s hockey team speaks the same way in the locker room as we did. And his son will be the same. My nephew as well. This idea that men are going to stop shit talking in private is absolutely absurd.
Those things are human nature, not learned. It will never change to the point you wish, not within your lifetime at least honey
"In this culture, in this society, there's an assumption which shows up in how we talk about things. So that, when somebody does something selfish or greedy, what do we say? We say, 'oh, that's just human nature.' There's an assumption in that about human nature.
Interestingly enough, it's rarely the case that somebody does something generous or kind, or supportive, and people say 'Oh, that's just human nature.' In actual truth, that IS human nature, and the greed and the selfish are not human nature.
It's not that people can't be greedy, or selfish, or aggressive, or competitive, or individualistic, or just plain narcissistic. Not only can they be, but they often are, and not only can they be, but so can we be. I certainly can. But that doesn't mean it's our nature.
It's like trying to understand the zebra. Where would you want to study the zebra? In a zoo? In a small cage in a zoo? Or out in the savannah, where the zebra evolved and has lived? Well, if you really want to understand the nature of a zebra, you wouldn't study it in a zoo. And so, drawing conclusions about human nature from how we live in this society is like trying to understand a wild animal inside a cage."- Dr. Gabor Maté
I know “that’s human nature” sounds like a bully, but still, that’s human nature to badmouth others in private, babe. Just like saying the F word can help people cope with pain.
“In this culture, in this society” should be changed to “in every culture, in every society” and the rest of what you say still applies. Thus human nature honey!
Btw, it’s quite interesting that during bullying, the bullied will suffer long lasting pain whereas bullies become more confident in their lives and forgetful about what they did. For you, it’s difficult to advocate an idea going against human nature and consensus, and you will be repeatedly bullied in the process. What is worse, you will take the pain, we don’t. Babe (yeah, the B word is an instance🤣)
Also, please don't call people you don't know "honey" or "babe". It's not welcome.
Doesn’t matter mon cher (ma chère), and I don’t have time to read your lengthy “zebra” argument.
In the case of EMS or medicine (I work in medicine too) it’s a way to decompress from the awful things you see at work. Like a form of dark humour, a way to release psychological trauma.
Personally I don’t find misogyny, transphobia, and homophobia relaxing. It’s a little concerning that you and your co-workers do.
It’s not something I partake in either, but i can see the need to do something to let it out after you watch someone die a sudden, awful death in front of their family.
Glad to hear you don’t partake. I understand the need to do something to recuperate from a traumatic event, but expressing misogyny, transphobia, and//or homophobia isn’t a good choice, and it creates a hostile work environment. People who are harmed by it aren’t necessarily going to feel they can speak up to object without repercussion.
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You just gonna understand, these people they aren’t like us
🙄😠
"It's important to recognize consent within a tight-knit group and how communication within that group vs greater society interrelates."
My experience is that this is what toxic losers who deserve to be fired tell themselves to justify their behaviour. That consent doesn't really exist and this lawyer just found that out.
Sending that to coworkers isn’t a tight nit group. This guy said at work what should be saved for the locker room
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I mean, he’s 100% right.
The idea that us men are going to change the way we speak in public because activists are mad is ridiculous.
That letter would be tame in a locker room. In my dads locker rooms, in my locker rooms, or even my 16yo son’s locker room. This is how most young male athletes joke and speak with each other. It’s not going to change.
But sending this at work? Yeah, that’s definitely a few steps too far.
Then I hope you at least understand why women feel disenfranchised in our society.
You don't think it would be a problem?
You hang out with the wrong crowd.
Agreed. This was extremely unprofessional, and indicative of deeply flawed judgment.
At the same time, all the handwringing over this is pathetic, and also demonstrates the lack of humor among progressive types. We must all take progressive ideology very seriously, with a religion-like reverence… or else.
Do only progressive people find these kinds of jokes tired, overdone, boring and unfunny?
I wouldn’t go that far. I find it distasteful and unprofessional as well. However, I will say all the people acting like this should be a career-ending mistake are just a bunch of overly serious, overly sensitive progressives going “Reeeeeeeeee!”
Part of the oath that lawyers take when they are admitted to the bar concerns standards of behaviour, usually something like not bringing the practice of law and legal system into disrepute. This email is and should absolutely be career-ending for a lawyer.
A couple of untoward jokes don’t bring the legal system into disrepute. Get over yourself.
Clearly his law firm disagrees with you.
They’re just afraid of taking flak from the small minority of woke which currently (and in all likelihood very temporarily) has an outsized voice and influence
Yeah. If this was a bunch of good old boys who'd been friends forever and were just joking around, well, okay, whatever. Sending it to dozens of colleagues is a big yikes.
Exactly, time and place.
What an idiot. I guess having a great education doesn't do crap about having respect.
I worked intake and courses at a military school as my last posting before releasing.
The amount of people with degrees from business to medical that were the most useless and careless idiots when it came to work and social functions was astounding.
Best way I can put it is that it’s apparently easier to train someone to perform medical operations than training someone to not be a misogynist or racist.
I've seen a lot of people who are good at their job, but have absolutely no people skills or understanding of email etiquette do very dumb things at work. Like hit the 'Reply All' button while sending a very nasty email response to someone in HR who was trying to gently remind them about company policies around diversity/respect/harassment/groups legally protected by the Charter. Needless to say, we got a company-wide email reminding us to review those policies, plus the ones about professionalism and emails in the workplace. Also, his contract was not renewed.
There's a reason why Intelligence and Wisdom are separate stats in D&D.
WTF did I just read. It reads like a satire.
You’re off the case, Rob!
Props for them for actually attaching the email - too many times we get this kind of article where it’s claimed someone said something offensive, but we can’t actually see or read what this ‘offensive’ thing was so we can decide for ourselves, just ‘trust us bro’.
I'm shocked he didn't just say I didn't write that, someone sent it from my email. Holy what was he high on when he wrote that?
Presumably because if he did that, then it would mean that he had allowed (either on purpose or due to his own negligence in cyber security) someone access to his firm email which contains privileged information. There is zero chance that it wouldn’t be investigated (because the extent of the damage would have to be determined) and found out to be a lie. But even if he could convince them it was true, he’d still probably be out of the job and likely to end up in front of the Law Society for misconduct. Privilege is no joke.
Lawyers like the one who wrote the email are a stain on the profession. No one needs or wants them, and the sooner they disappear, the better. I very much hope someone reports him to the Law Society.
And his annual event seems to draw in 30+ people, no doubt birds of a feather.
The email:
Like the famous ring announcer Bruce Buffer used to say.....IT'S TIME!!!! Boxing and mixed martial arts are one of the last bastions of real human aggression. The ring is a place where fighters, men and women, can exercise their pugilist skills, and legally beat the shit out of each other. Fighters are a unique breed and I doubt any of them identify as anything other than what you see in the ring. We, who attend the Invitational, are open minded, progressive individuals. . We fight for the trophy, we hold nothing back, and we identify as golfers, whether we can seriously play or not. is the current champion, he identifies as a man most of the time, and it has been a few years since we had a championess. Yes that is a real word - just like lioness. I long for the day that we can award the trophy to a person with a vagina. (Using SCC's new lingo for women - if you want to get an earful, ask if she is one). We have never had to address these current day issues directly, although in past years we had a few people with penises identify as people with disabilities and played at the white tees while the rest of us played the blues. I never made a scene about this; you can play whatever tee you want or need to. Do what makes you happy. Calling someone out who cannot drive it over the ravine on 10 would be mean - and I am not that guy. on the other hand has no issue with calling a spade a spade. (1 bet you cannot say that in public anymore either - Oscar Wilde is turning over in his grave) Ever since around 2010 when we recognized that women could attend the Invitational (we were progressive before people even used the word progressive), we have subjected ourselves to her ridicule. But deep down she loves you all. I tell people that she loves me every day and likes me on most of them. What more can I ask for - what more can any man ask for. (besides HJ's, BJ's, etc.). Back to the issue of trans people. People born one way but later decide they want to be another. We had that in the Invitational too. Many years ago, we had a patron that tried to win right-handed - and could not. He later started to transition to left-handed. The transition was not easy - there was a time when he hit his woods from the right, irons from the left, and I think he putted both ways. No one ridiculed him for his decision to change or his transition, and he did that all the natural way - no surgery, no hormones etc. What happened to him do you ask? He never won from the left either, (although, if he had played from the Green tees it may have been a different story and we could have recognized him as Golfer of the Year)but I think he stopped coming after we filled his girtfriend's film camera, which she wrongfully left behind when they went to bed, with dick picks/balloon knot shots late Saturday night after the last drop of tequila was consumed. I am sure the photoshop at Walmart was equally surprised and disturbed. Thankfully those why contributed had no identifiable moles or tattoos.
What the fuck is he even talking about? What kind of work environment is this where they send emails that read like a 50 year old divorced dad’s Facebook posts?
That’s not even the entire email. It’s even longer.
It’s quality cringe for sure
Full Jerry Maguire right there.
A complete douchebag. This guy obviously thinks he's a great wit and the funniest guy in the room with his "jokes".
He got the KC but doesn't know how to use an apostrophe. I bet he's like this in person, just blabs on and on and on and never knows when or how to shut his yap.
The letter reads like one of those boring annual Christmas letters where a relative updates everyone on their family exploits. But with some extra stupidity sprinkled in. So tiresome.
Lawyers are messed in the head. I remember Greg Gartner (of Moodys Gartner) won a large prize in legal profession then murdered his whole family months later.
Kim Moody then sued his estate saying that Greg made the firm look bad.
Lawyers in large highly competitive firms are a different sort of people.
Wow 🤯
Years ago, that firm flew me up to Alberta from the USA and offered me a job after an exhausting day long interview. It was quite an experience but I ended up turning it down because of what felt to me like a lot of red flags, including some off-color comments and what I perceived as high turnover, but I had no idea what had happened since then, yikes.
Yeah google Mike Gartner Murder Edmonton, and then read the aftermath with all the lawsuits. Crazy stuff.
Bet he's fun at 🥳 parties. 🙄
He probably is, and that is where this sort of stuff should be saved for. Time with close friends, locker rooms, etc. not the office.
Sending this as an email at work is absurd.
Even in a party, that kind of nonsensical rambling is just boring. After 30 seconds of that shit, I would personally go "stfu dude" and try to switch subjects before he bores me to death
Not classy, but far from shocking. I'll get over it.
I am sure that goes on all the in legal firms, ie emails like this and the bros just cover up for one another. He must have annoyed the wrong person.
Like 25 years ago. Having more and more women in prominent roles has really cleaned up the workplace and their impact will continue to have positive impacts on years to come.
This email gets you fired at any top firm. Field law is not a top firm by the way.
Their office sign is visible from the courthouse. They have that going for them.
Women in the office can be much, much more sexually harassing of coworkers than men.
If an attractive man joins the office basically every woman where I work is gossiping about them and it basically becomes the topic of conversation for weeks.
You’re missing the point
Correction: they are intentionally missing the point
In this case, the "wrong person" was probably everyone.
Oh I guarantee it. This loser was a partner and practiced for over 30 years. There is no way this was the first time and, at best, there were or are others at the firm who covered it up (and at worst, they act as he does). That firm deserves to get a very negative reputation from this despite their claims that they don’t endorse the email.
Whoever shared the email, I understand if they don’t come forward because lawyers can be incredibly malicious and they might retaliate, but they’re a fucking hero. Hope they leave that firm and go somewhere with more ethics. Maybe they already have, since it’s probably a toxic work environment with this shit going on, and this is their parting gift. Haha.
Canadian Supreme Court says to refer 'woman' as 'person with a vagina' in sexual assault case
Email is dumb, try hard, and inappropriate. But that's not why he's gone. The firm wanted him gone.
People don't just start sending emails like that one day out of the blue.
I am sure he will have a bright future in the UCP.
Low bar for the King's bench. I mean not that I’m surprised.
Each province makes the appointments, so, yeah, Smith has no standards.
I don’t see anything wrong with the email. Our current society is so weak that words in an email obviously meant as jokes can be taken as “This guy needs to be fired.”
He’s probably been sending emails like this for 10 years and all of sudden a bunch of “persons with vaginas” decided to be offended or men that should have vaginas because they are pussies and can’t take an invitation to a golf tournament as a joke.
I hate our politically correct society and the pussies that can handle words in an email. Wah 😫
I hope it makes you even more upset that he got stripped of his KC designation, too. Wah!!
Happy to hear that
This should be career ending... But I doubt it. I can't imagine the rational that was going through his head while. He wrote that...its extremely out there....
Here I was thinking I was a reader but I git through first page and called it.
I don't think his prose is for me
Look at this lump. Thinks being a lawyer with some money makes him worthy of commenting on anything he likes and everyone has to agree with him. He thinks that "feminazis" and trans people are why he has to pay for sex, not because he's disgusting. All the time he took to write that? What a fuckwit.
Wait, I thought "person with a vagina" was the preferred nomenclature (to use the parlance of our times)?
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/supreme-court-decision-say-word-woman-is-confusing-unfortunate
Dude was just trying to be an ally.
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15d
Boomers and gen x should just retire already.
And then there's this asshole redditor who loves throwing ageism around just because....
Excuse me? The “oldest” Gen Xers are still of working age, 60 or younger. And as one, I don’t take kindly to being grouped with the boomers. Our generations had very different experiences.
Dude, a lot of gen x are still in their 40’s. We’re the only sane generation right now. The boomers and the millennials have lost the plot.
How old do you think millennials are lmao. Where in our 30s and early 40s and just want to be able to afford a decent life for ourselves and our families. How have we “lost the plot”?
40’s millennials are like gen x and older gen x are like boomers. There is a transition between generations, it’s not a hard line.
Dude....a lot of millennials are in their 40ies too. Imagine ranting about generations and not even understanding how those work.
I understand how it works, do you? Do you think that there’s a hard line between generations? There is an overlap and transition.
Older gen x are more like boomers, and older millennials are more like gen x.
Your lack of self awareness is simply astounding. You literally replied to someone calling out your generation by calling out an entire other "younger" generation for "losing the plot", which by your own admission has significant overlap with yours.
So either you're the one who doesn't know how generations work, or you're simply yet another asshole. And I'm going with asshole because only an asshole would claim "their generation is the only sane one".
You must be a younger millennial.
I think you are very misinformed.
And also uncontrollably horny, apparently.
I’m confused. I saw the full email and it’s sent from himself to himself. So was it leaked by an it admin that had access to his mailbox ?
Good. Law Society sanction?
Good.
Is he a drag queen
He's literally qouting a recent Supreme court of Canada ruling that called women persons with vaginas. You can be mad about this guy making jokes but the article fails to provide the proper context as to why he would say such a thing in the first place. Our court system has become so dumb I doubt he cares. More time for golf.
The entire email is attached at the bottom of the article. He’s advertising his annual golf tournament to the whole law firm kind of like the person that organizes the office Christmas party.
Almost every paragraph ends up being extremely inappropriate to send to all of your coworkers. Like the day 1 intro course example of what not to send to coworkers.
Yes extremely stupid and crass to write this in an email but he's only calling women persons with vaginas because the Supreme Court did first.
Ya I feel like that one sentence is fine, poking fun at their profession, until he follows it up with “if you want to get an earful go ask REDACTED if she has one” which is either making fun of someone who works there that’s transgendered, or a masculine looking woman. Then follows that winner up with a bunch of jokes about people with penises identify as people with disabilities so they can start at the white tees on the golf course to do better.
If you haven’t read it, read the whole email, all five tone deaf pages of it.
Santa Claus Court was correct. They needed to use the phrase that way because the BC court of Appeal was being woke to the point of extreme stupidity.
https://thehub.ca/2024-04-04/norman-siebrasse-the-supreme-court-gets-unnecessarily-political/
It was very telling when they went to the DEI expert at the University of Calgary, what he had to say. Note the very lawyerish and specific wording (my emphasis):
"Wrightson, who is also chair of the law faculty's equality, diversity and inclusion committee, called the email "divisive … disrespectful and misogynistic."
"It is astonishing that not just a member of our law society would think this was OK to put in writing but someone who's just been appointed to King's counsel," said Wrightson in an interview with CBC News. "
I guess it's ok to hold these beliefs and talk about them behind closed doors among your professional associates, who happen to be officers of our courts... just, I mean, c'mon man "why would you think it was OK to write it down?!".
That's not concerning at all...
Well you can’t police how someone thinks. That’s insane. You want workplaces to control the inner thoughts and beliefs and views of their employees??
A workplace can, however, control what they say in public and in the workplace as representatives of that institution.
I think his point is that we should be exercising more care in how we select people to be officers of the court in the first place. There's a good character requirement for membership at the bar, but in practice "good character" has come to mean something akin to "you haven't been convicted of theft, fraud, or sexual abuse and you can find at least two friends who won't say you're a monster".
In Ontario they just made a child molester who lied on his application a lawyer, so I completely agree the standards are pretty lax
Give me a man ranting and raving anyday over this lunacy.
JFC, and he has children of his own.
At the time, AA was living in another country, working towards becoming “a religious leader.”
Ah, ok, that backstory makes sense.
Nobody has the resources to do comprehensive investigations on everyone that is being admitted to the profession.
A lawyer you say? No surprise there
Why does he have to bring Bruce Buffer into his mess.
Just goes to show how many pillars of the community are completely full of shit hypocrites.
In a surprise twist, it turns out Room 408 is the closet!
Why we do allow these woke imbeciles to police our words and rule over us? No sane person cares about this guys emails. I wish our society had the integrity to resist this kind of bullying and condemned the asinine virtue signallers instead.
Literally no one thinks this is acceptable in the workplace.
This dumbass just found out.
Woke imbeciles to police our words and rule over us.
You mean HR?
It’s been illegal to talk to your employees in vulgar ways for decades, before being “woke” was even a concept, so I can only assume that you are unemployed or an idiot.
You definitely did not read the full email.
Someone cared enough to send it to the media.
Not right away, though 🤷♀️
cry us a river. I wish our society had less people like you.
I imagine someone in the firm sent it to the media. His position being freed allows that person more likelihood to get promoted.
Brilliant back stab in a cutthroat profession.
This email is bad enough even a porn studio's HR team would fire him. But I would expect no less from a Trump supporter posting in Canada sub.
I agree with you
I mean, look at the guy. Are we surprised someone who looks like that would do something like this?
Hahahaha rent free. If you didn't know it by now lawyers are a strange lot. They live in a world of argumemt and words. Kings Council, he is daring someone to pick a fight because he isn't some redditor.
He argues for a living. Kings Council he is at the top of his game.
Just ignore it. Cause if he gets you into a court room unlikely he is going to lose.
Well, he resigned so it seems like he has already lost.
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