Milberg Weiss No. 1 for Securities Settlements
Apparently undaunted by legal troubles, lawyers at Milberg Weiss managed to secure $3.8 billion in settlements for securities plaintiffs last year, making it the top-ranked class-action law firm.
Shareholder advisory firm RiskMetrics Group ranked Milberg Weiss first and Grant & Eisenhofer second, Reuters reports. Milberg Weiss and its name partner Melvyn Weiss have been charged with paying kickbacks to lead plaintiffs. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Milberg Weiss moved up in the rankings because of a huge $3.2 billion settlement in a shareholders’ lawsuit against Tyco International alleging corporate fraud, according to a RiskMetrics press release (PDF). The settlement was the single largest payment from any corporate defendant in the history of securities litigation, according to a press release (PDF) issued at the time.
Grant & Eisenhofer helped clients secure $3.45 billion in settlements last year, putting it in second place for total amounts recovered. But the law firm topped the list of average settlement amounts with a $690.3 million average for its five settlements.
