Aaron, thanks for your advice.
The contract was for a three-month period during the summer. I have a letter stating that I was offered the position by the lawfirm and that I accepted their offer. Doesn't this constitute a formal contract?
We also entered into the contrac orally the day before the letter was written to confirm the offer and acceptance.
Also law firm positions for second year students are a very organized affair and these positions are secured a year before the beginning of the employment period during specific recruitment times.
The emails were very polite. One email just documented honestly that I had a problem regarding retraction of a publication, in which I had the copyright, and a lack of willingness on the part of the faculty to support my retraction. The e-mail expressed a desire to contribute positively to the law firm and that if there was any misinformation on the part of the faculty regarding my character that it was based on misinformation regarding the incendent - which was resolved in my favour.
I wrote this email in response to the lack of willingness on the part of the law firm to process my VISA and their non-response to my emails. I did not understand why I was being shut out when I had a great interaction with the partner before the hollidays. The only reasons I could see was that he either had a personal issues or that the was made aware of the incident with respect to my school.
THe other email just documented his phone converstation in which he stated that he had no contact with the law school. I documented this call only because I found his demeanor strange and defensive, so I just wanted to have it on record.
Therefore, the emails were absolutely innocuous, polite and showed a desire to establish good relations and to discuss anything that might be a problem.

