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It's normal for the support staff to provide attorneys and cli-
ents with coffee and beverages, but it is unusual to find a law
firm that requires the professional staff to make the attorney
breakfast and lunch on a daily basis, as well as shopping for
the food to be used for the attorney's personal consumption.
Mr. Rothman required all of the above. He even required the
receptionist to shop for his food on her own time before or
after work. It was written all over her face that this was caus-
ing her a lot of humiliation and was demeaning to her profes-
sionally. She literally had to wait on him hand and foot and do
tasks that were ordinarily not required of the staff in a profes-
sional law office.
Instead of being grateful for her willingness to provide him
with ordinary services, Mr. Rothman treated her like a whip-
ping post. She was under daily verbal attack by Mr. Rothman.
He humiliated and yelled at her for the slightest mistake or
misunderstanding. Usually, his instructions were unclear or
not complete and he would yell at her as if he expected her to
read his mind. He would often yell at the top of his lungs only
a few inches from her face. She had to endure spit flying across
her face, while afraid to say anything because he was irratio-
nal. Mr. Rothman's mannerism was often intimidating and
physically threatening. When he was in the midst of a full-
fledged tantrum it appeared as if he was going to physically
attack you at any moment.
I never saw him smile at his employees. When he did smile
he displayed a set of pearly white teeth that appeared to have
cost him a great deal of money. The receptionist sat right out-
side Mr. Rothman's door; therefore, she was in his direct line
of fire and was constantly in tears. It made her a nervous wreck.
To keep from responding emotionally to the things that
were going on around me, I had to carry myself as a true pro-
fessional. The attitude I had to develop, just to make it through
the day was, that, "it was just a job." However, after witness-
ing the constant friction, yelling and emotional outbursts, I also
felt emotionally drained at the end of every day. The only way
I could live peacefully with Mr. Rothman was to bury my head

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