Biglaw

Biglaw Partner In Hot Water After Twitter Outburst Inspired By Kavanaugh Hearing

Cursing out women isn't a great idea when you're supposed to be a professional.

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Frank Aquila

The awfulness of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings has touched us all. Some people have turned to friends or political activism to cope with the emotional turmoil that the mockery of our judicial branch stirred up. Others took to Twitter to release their rage. In that respect mergers and acquisitions partner at Sullivan & Cromwell Frank Aquila is like a lot of us, but his social media rant went the extra mile and got him in some hot water.

It started when Sarah Huckabee Sanders used the official @PressSec Twitter account to exalt Lindsey Graham’s angry shock that people somehow care that a potential lifetime appointee has been credibly accused of sexual assault. But instead of expressing disgust in the privacy of his own corner office, Aquila took to Twitter, which would have been fine, except for the misogynistic language he used. Yeah, telling a woman — no matter how vile her opinions — to “Rot in Hell You B!tch” isn’t a good look when you’re trying to express your support for victims of sexual assault.

Once the tweet started going viral, as Law.com reports, Aquila deleted his account. And as part of the apology tour he’s subjected himself to, Aquila sent around a firm-wide email on Friday, calling his tweet “inappropriate and hurtful”:

Last evening, I responded to a tweet from Sarah Sanders in an inappropriate and hurtful manner. Clearly my emotions got the best of me, but equally clearly neither Ms. Sanders nor any woman should be subjected to such animus. I take full responsibility for my ‎actions and I sincerely apologize to Ms. Sanders.

Aquila’s outrage is certainly understandable — a lot of people feel similarly. But cursing out women isn’t a great idea when you’re supposed to be a professional.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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