When talking on their cellphones, business travelers sometimes assume they're surrounded by an invisible, sound-proof phone booth that keeps their conversations private. They are not. In fact, they are much more likely surrounded by an army of eavesdropping gossips, eager to upload any juicy nuggets. In particular, the high-speed Acela train between Washington, D.C., and New York has become one of the most dangerous forms of transportation for the garrulous traveler.Take Robert Robbins, a D.C.-based corporate securities partner at law firm Pillsbury Winthrop. In February 2009, on a morning train to New York, he used his BlackBerry bluetooth to talk to a colleague about plans to lay off up to 20 lawyers at his firm; he was not shy about naming names. A law student sitting in the seat ahead of him overheard and reported the news to legal blog Above the Law (where I was an editor at the time). Soon the embarrassing story and news of the coming layoffs had migrated to gossip blog Gawker and a slew of legal newspapers. The firm later issued a statement apologizing for the "unfortunate manner in which our deliberations about reductions have become public."
The cautionary tale apparently did not reverberate in law firm circles, though. Last month another law firm partner... (more)
