Perkins Coie Sues Ex-Associate, Seeks Tuition Loan Repayment
Perkins Coie has sued a former associate in its Menlo Park, Calif., office. The law firm contends that he reneged on a written agreement to repay up to $30,000 that it agreed to lend him to pay his tuition and related expenses while he was still a law student.
Its Alameda County Superior Court suit says David Xue left the firm in September 2008 to work for Goodwin Procter. But under a Jan. 23, 2007 employment offer letter, the firm alleges, Xue was required to reimburse that amount to the Perkins Coie if he terminated his employment before he had worked there three years, reports the Am Law Daily, relying on documents in the case.
The firm offered Xue a $155,000-a-year job as a patent agent while the electrical engineering and computer sciences Ph.D. was still a student at the University of San Francisco School of Law, according to the complaint and related documents (PDF), copies of which are provided by the Am Law Daily. He apparently graduated in December 2007.
The lawsuit now seeks a total of $36,334.25, plus prejudgment interest.
Xue and Goodwin Procter declined to comment, the Am Law Daily says.
