Free Republic

Weiss pleads guilty; Clinton silentMar 21, 2008 3:00 AM (2 days ago) by Quin Hillyer, The Examiner WASHINGTON- Pioneering securities class-action lawyer Melvyn Weiss agreed yesterday to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy in the Justice Department’s prosecution of the New York firm that carried his name for many years. Weiss thus became the fourth named partner in the firm to plead guilty in the past year to participating in an $11.7 million kickback scheme government prosecutors said began in 1979 and resulted in more than $200 million in tainted legal fees in an estimated 150 cases filed by...

Barney Frank is a busy guy, so we suppose it's no great surprise that he used a ghost writer for his recent Supreme Court amicus brief in a big securities tort case. Imagine our surprise, however, to learn that the ghost is none other than tort kingpin Bill Lerach's favorite lobbying outfit.

For decades, few things have inspired as much fear and loathing in the executive suites of corporate America as the law firm of Milberg Weiss and the two outsized personalities who ruled the place, Mel Weiss and Bill Lerach. Through creativity and ruthlessness, they transformed the humble securities class-action lawsuit into a deadly weapon.Always, Milberg Weiss cast itself as the champion of the little guy. In media interviews Lerach has spoken evocatively about fighting for the honest, struggling blue-collar worker who, through no fault of his own, had lost his hard-earned savings to corporate perfidy. The firm boasts of having...