If you have not been following the drama surrounding the question of the attorneys’ fees to be paid to class counsel in the State Street foreign currency exchange overcharge case, you will want to read the latest order from District of Massachusetts Judge Mark Wolf. Among other things, in his February 27, 2020 order, Judge Wolf cut the fees of the law firms that acted as class counsel, from $75 million to $60 million. Perhaps even more significantly, Judge Wolf concluded that lawyers at two of the lead plaintiff law firms had violated applicable provisions of the professional code of conduct and referred the attorneys to the local state bar professional practices unit. Judge Wolf’s findings also include his own reflection about the indispensable role of judge in supervising class counsel and their fees. A copy of Judge Wolf’s order can be found here.
Continue Reading Court Ratchets Down Fee Award, Refers Class Counsel for Possible Ethics Violation
A Plaintiff Lawyer Withdraws Because the Thrill is Gone
It is big news when one of the most successful plaintiff-side corporate and securities lawyers decides to walk away from the game, but that is exactly what Stuart Grant of Grant & Eisenhofer, the Delaware shareholder litigation firm, is going to do. According to Alison Frankel’s interesting June 25, 2018 Reuters article and interview (here), Grant is leaving his firm effective June 30, 2018, because, in his own words, he doesn’t like losing, as he has been doing in the past few years. Both Grant’s reasons for leaving and his plans for what comes next are interesting. In his interview with Frankel, Grant also had a number of interesting things to say about a number of corporate and securities litigation topics.
Continue Reading A Plaintiff Lawyer Withdraws Because the Thrill is Gone
Changes in the Plaintiffs’ Class Action Bar and the Changing World of Shareholder Litigation
The changing mix of corporate and securities litigation is a recent phenomenon on which I have frequently commented on this blog. While identifying the fact of the change is relatively straightforward, explaining it is more challenging. According to a January 11, 2012 article in The Review of Securities & Commodities Regulation entitled “Shareholder Litigation
Interview with the Authors of “Circle of Greed”
In their terrific new book "Circle of Greed: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Lawyer Who Brought Corporate America to Its Knees," Patrick Dillon and Carl M. Cannon detail the fascinating story of Bill Lerach, who rose to the pinnacle of his profession only to be brought down by criminal wrongdoing.
Book Review: “Circle of Greed” – The Rise and Fall of Bill Lerach
During his long and provocative legal career, former class action securities litigator and convicted felon Bill Lerach was a self-selected lightening rod for controversy. He taunted his foes, stalked his enemies, challenged convention, and in the process transformed himself into a larger than life figure.
And so when his legal career collapsed among revelations
Plaintiff’s Securities Counsel: “Pay-to-Play” Practices?
The financial relationship between plaintiffs’ securities firms and the clients they represent has long been questioned, and not only because of the kinds of improper kickback payments for which Bill Lerach and Mel Weiss, among others, wound up in jail. Another practice that has raised recurring concerns is what is referred to as "pay-to-play" &ndash
$9 Million Missing, Plaintiffs’ Lawyer Takes the Fifth – O.K., That’s Not Good
Several of the lawyers for the plaintiffs in the Bisys Group securities lawsuit are concerned with the whereabouts of more than $9 million from the $65.8 fund established in connection with the settlement of the case.
As reflected in the transcript of the April 20, 2009 hearing before Southern District of New York Judge
Judge Calls Plaintiffs’ Firm’s “Monitoring” Services “Shocking Conflict of Interest”
One of the recurring issues in securities litigation is the way the erstwhile class counsel and their clients, the prospective class representatives, come together. In what one federal judge described as a "blatant, shocking conflict of interest," it appears, from testimony at a recent lead plaintiff selection hearing, that the leading plaintiffs’ firms are providing
The Future of the Plaintiffs’ Securities Bar?
With the sentencing of the last two defendants in the criminal investigation of the Milberg law firm and several of its former partners, it may be time to ask what the impact has been on the plaintiffs’ securities bar and what the future may be for securities litigation. There are also interesting questions about what
The Weiss Indictment and Schulman’s Plea Agreement
In what may be the beginning of the final act in the Milberg Weiss criminal investigation, on September 20, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Mel Weiss of participating in a scheme that paid millions of dollars in kickbacks to paid plaintiffs in over 235 class action and shareholders derivative lawsuits. The payments, allegedly made