Judge to Hear Claim of ‘Lawyer Driven’ Morgan Stanley Deal
A federal judge has agreed to hold a hearing into a contention that a proposed $16 million Morgan Stanley racial discrimination settlement was “lawyer driven.”
Senior U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson praised the lawyers’ 10 percent fee request in the case for being well below the benchmark, but granted the hearing to learn the extent of the plaintiffs’ involvement in fee negotiations, the Recorder reports.
Linda Friedman, a lawyer for about 30 African-American retail brokers, said during a hearing last month that the settlement leaves in place a Morgan Stanley policy that redistributes clients after a broker leaves based on “power rankings.” Friedman said the rankings are a byproduct of the firm’s past bias against blacks.
Friedman filed a declaration from former name plaintiff Denise Williams, who said she was “furious” about the settlement and had not been consulted about it, the Recorder story says.
