Milberg Law Firm Defends Fee Payments to Convicted Partner
Following a court hearing yesterday, a Milberg partner defended the law firm’s agreement to pay former firm leader Melvyn Weiss possibly tens of millions of dollars in unpaid fees.
A Wall Street Journal editorial had criticized the agreement, saying the payments could more than make up for the $9.75 million Weiss agreed to forfeit in a plea deal with the government. Weiss was sentenced to more than 30 months in prison for paying kickbacks to lead plaintiffs in securities class actions.
Milberg partner Matthew Gluck said the agreement had been struck with full knowledge of the government, the New York Law Journal reports. Gluck also said the deal contained no bar on a suit against Weiss to try to recover part of the $75 million that the Milberg firm agreed to pay in a deal with the government. Charges were dropped against Milberg in exchange for the payment.
The editorial had said the firm’s expressed remorse appeared to be “phony” and the Justice Department “may itself have been conned” by the fee payment agreement.
Weiss is seeking court approval of the agreement. Judge Herman Cahn of Manhattan did not rule immediately on the request. The New York Law Journal story says a lawyer for Steven Schulman, another convicted former partner, was also in the courtroom. The article said the lawyer’s presence suggests similar agreements were reached with other ex-partners who pleaded guilty in the case.
