The fatal lawyer triangle of the week

_{It’s the Office Romance Goblin, here to ruin everyone’s fun.}

The teams of two law firms have been thrown into disarray after a love triangle between three City lawyers spiralled out of control.

RollOnFriday does not name any of the participants, their companies, or their practice groups because they are simply guilty of poor relationship decisions, I’m sorry.

The shenanigans began at a Silver Circle firm when a partner, “Mr. Partner,” fell head over heels in love with an intern from his department, “Ms. Intern,” multiple sources told ROF.

It was a risky romance for Mr. Partner because there was a big age difference between the two. And because Mr. Partner was already in a long-term relationship with another partner in the department, Ms. Partner.

The company was “notoriously a place of incest,” said one source, and to make matters even more complicated, Ms. Partner was Ms. Trainee’s boss.

When the stolen kisses became public knowledge within the firm, “things went haywire.” The relationship between Mr. Partner and Ms. Partner ended and they “could no longer be in the same room,” causing “political chaos” among partners across the department, sources said.

The female partner was part of a practice group that was identified as an important development area for the firm, and as a “quick fix” the decision was made to evict the unfaithful male partner.

After Mr. Partner was fired, the red trainee also decided not to stay and moved to a US company after completing his training. “Understandably,” he was looking for “a clean break,” a source said.

But three months later, Ms. Partner also left the company to follow a number of her colleagues to a US firm where they planned to relocate their burgeoning practice.

Unfortunately, this was the same US company that Ms. Trainee had started at, and ROF has learned that the two women are now stuck together in the same department again.

“So everyone is a loser,” summed up one source. “The trainee can’t just get back on track. The partner who was fired has lost his job. The partner who was cheated on has to see the other woman at work every day.”

And the Silver Circle firm “made a bet to support the partner in the area where it saw growth potential, only to then expect the entire team, including the partner, to take that practice to a competitor.”

It was “hilarious,” said a cold-blooded source within the U.S. company.

ROF has not reached out to any of the angry lovebirds for comment, fearing that there could be another wave of layoffs.