Ex-BigLaw partner who claimed he was duped by in-house counsel is suspended for altered bills
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The Georgia Supreme Court has suspended a former BigLaw partner for submitting altered bills to a corporate client that included work done for personal clients of an in-house lawyer.
John F. Meyers was suspended for two years in a Dec. 11 opinion (PDF). A special master had recommended disbarment, but a review panel concluded the suspension was adequate. The Daily Report and the ABA BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Conduct have stories.
Most recently, Meyers was an equity partner with Barnes & Thornburg in Atlanta. The conduct at issue occurred in 2011 when Meyers was at Seyfarth Shaw and representing J.M. Huber Corp., according to the articles.
The in-house lawyer, Michael L. DiTano, had told Meyers that J.M. Huber allowed him to do outside legal work for his own clients, as long as it was not on company time and didn’t pose any conflicts. DiTano hired Meyer’s firm to do some of the work for his private clients.
“When difficulties arose in collecting the fees for those services from the in-house counsel’s personal clients,” the Georgia Supreme Court said, “the amounts due were rolled into the bills sent to the law firm’s corporate client, with the descriptions of the work that had been performed edited to eliminate information that would make clear that the work was not performed directly for the corporate client.”
J.M. Huber discovered the practice and fired DiTano, who was allowed to voluntarily surrender his law license. DiTano claimed Meyers had told him he needed to recoup the fees somehow, while Meyers says he submitted the bills at DiTano’s behest.
Meyers said DiTano told him the billing procedure was acceptable because much of the work would benefit the corporation, and DiTano would reimburse the company for any work that was not beneficial.
Seyfarth Shaw reimbursed J.M. Huber for amounts that had been paid and wrote off other invoices. Meyers repaid Seyfarth Shaw and resigned from the firm. The bar complaint had said the amount repaid was about $95,000.
Meyers now acknowledges that alterations to the bills could have concealed the work was done for DiTano and his clients. Nevertheless, Meyers “steadfastly denies any knowing participation in a scheme to defraud the client,” the state supreme court said. “Instead, Meyers claims that he was duped and misled by in-house counsel, whom he reasonably trusted.”
Meyers had not been the subject of another disciplinary complaint during his more than 30 years as a lawyer.
Meyers said he could not comment when contacted by the ABA Journal.
