The Fall Of A Law Firm

Milberg Weiss LLP

In 2001, they were the biggest plaintiff law firm in America with over 200 lawyers, but New York’s Milberg Weiss LLP, disintegrated after the Feds moved in on them, charging two of their attorneys with bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud.

The firm went from 200 to 53 lawyers and due to the bad publicity and departure of partners, had to change its name to Milberg. The firm is currently under criminal investigation, with one member having pled guilty.

It doesn’t take much to shut a law firm down, as they all rely on public confidence, corporate image and word of mouth to gain a well of work via clients.

All it takes is one criminal investigation or bad public endorsement and down the firm comes. Lawyers should be mindful of that before they engage in misconduct, because it always effects the entire firm.

Mel Weiss

What made lawyers, who spent so many years in school, violate established bar association ethics and federal law, to engage in such conduct. That's called risking it all and in doing so they always lose more than they gained.

The Milberg firm specializes in securities, among other things, which meant the Feds were lingering about. One should always mind their P’s and Q’s in cases with a federal attachment.

It is being said the firm will have to pay the government $75 million dollars in penalties and its founder, Melvin Weiss, 72, was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison and $9.75 million in fines.

At the end of the day honesty is the best policy. Lawyers, watch how you treat your clients, keep your hands clean, and remember with each decision you make, you are representing your firm and the entire legal profession.

Weiss Sentenced to 2 1/2 Years for Kickback Scheme (Update1)

June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Mel Weiss, co-founder of the securities law firm Milberg LLP, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for illegally paying clients to file shareholder suits that prosecutors said earned $251 million in lawyer fees.

Weiss, 72, must also forfeit $9.75 million and pay a fine of $250,000. He pleaded guilty April 2 to racketeering conspiracy, admitting he helped secretly pay a stable of plaintiffs to file suits from 1979 through 2005. By using them to sue first, the firm was more likely to lead cases and reap larger fees…

The New York-based firm may pay as much as $75 million, the newspaper said, citing unidentified sources. Milberg spokeswoman Marina Ein declined to comment.

Federal prosecutors have been investigating the firm since Cooperman, a Beverly Hills eye surgeon, first told them eight years ago about secret payments he received in 1989…

http://www.bloomberg.com