A close friend of mine at a top legal temp agency told me that they are expecting a need for “hundreds of people” in about three weeks once the discovery process in the Bernard Madoff scandal is wrapped up.  Agencies all over town are  stocking up on legal temp resumes in preparation.  Every law firm in the city has their hand in the Madoff pie, and the need is expected to be huge for long-term contract attorney and paralegal assignments.  Somewhat positive news after large rounds of layoffs at law firms.

Lee Redmond of Salt Lake City, Utah had the world's longest nails...until recently.

Lee Redmond of Salt Lake City, Utah, holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for longest nails. Actually, held. She had not cut them since 1979, until she was a passenger in an SUV that was involved in an accident.  Her nails were snapped off, according to the Deseret News.  The crash was a four car pile-up, and Redmond was throw from her SUV.

UPDATE 9/10:  Lee Redmond talks about life without her long nails.

According to the Guinness website, her nails measured a total of more than 28 feet in 2008, with the right thumb’s nail the longest at roughly 2ft 11ins long. She used to soak them in olive oil to keep them from becoming too brittle, until they grew too long for a pan.

Shridhar Chillal held the record for 20 years before cutting his nails in 2000 because their weight was too much for him to bear.

Redmond is expected to make a full recovery, but a Guinness spokesman said the nails were “damaged beyond repair.”  What a sight that must have been for the first responders at the scene of the accident.

Why am I writing about this?

I write about this because this woman just lost something that most defined her, that gave her notoriety.  Redmond’s nails were in reality her identity, and in a flash they were gone.  She may physically heal, but I have no doubt she expected to be buried with those nails fully attached.  Does she have another thirty years?  Most likely not.

In this way, Lee Redmond is not much different than the people who were ripped off by Bernard Madoff and the rest of the Wall Street crowd.  People lost everything.  Because of Bernard Madoff, retiree Allan Goldstein has to return to work at the age of 76.  Ian Thiermann, age 90, had to go back to work.  William Foxton, 65, shot himself in the head over Madoff.   Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet chose to slit his wrist.

Some of us handle having everything taken away from us better than others.  I will be interested to see how Lee Redmond bounces back, or doesn’t, from the loss of her nails.  She may not have lost millions, but she may have lost her identity.