Two Ex-Milberg Partners Each Sentenced to Six Months in Prison
Former Milberg partner Steven Schulman was sentenced yesterday afternoon to six months in jail for a conspiracy to pay kickbacks to lead plaintiffs, the same sentence given to another partner, David Bershad, earlier in the day for his role in the scheme.
The Daily Journal (sub. req.) reports that the sentencing hearings for the two men offered a study in contrasts.
Lawyers for Bershad said their client’s decision to be the first defendant to plead guilty in May 2007 led others to follow. Lawyers for Schulman, on the other hand, “presented a rueful, nuanced defense of their client based on relative culpability,” the story says.
Prosecutors had recommended only three months in prison for Bershad, who cooperated in the case, but 12 months for Schulman because of his later guilty plea.
Former name partners Melvyn Weiss and William Lerach are already serving time for their roles in the crime, according to an ABAJournal.com story on Bershad’s sentence. Weiss and Lerach were sentenced to 2½ and 2 years, respectively.
