Ex-partner says he loved Geoffrey Fieger like a brother but couldn't work with him
Geoffrey Fieger. ABA Journal file photo by John Sobczak
Litigation between two top Michigan trial lawyers has been settled on undisclosed terms, and the ex-partners are continuing to try high-profile cases in separate law firms.
However, one of the two, Vernon “Ven” Johnson, agreed to sit down with the Detroit Free Press, after the final settlement papers were signed, and talk about what it was like to work with his now-former colleague, Geoffrey Fieger.
Johnson said he considered Fieger a big brother, but in the end couldn’t work with him and was locked out of the law office by Fieger after giving notice, the newspaper reports in a lengthy article. Johnson claimed Fieger was demanding at the best of times, but became especially hard to deal with as he and Johnson defended a campaign-fraud case in which both were named as defendants and eventually acquitted, with the help of famed defense attorney Gerry Spence.
Under stress, Fieger shouted at staff and even, on one occasion, at clients, Johnson said. He and a jury consultant who formerly worked at Fieger’s firm told the newspaper employees cringed when they heard Fieger’s voice on the office intercom.
“I loved him more than I liked him,” Johnson said of Fieger during an interview from his corner office in the 13-attorney law firm that Johnson now operates. “I don’t think I have the vocabulary to express how I felt. I viewed him as my big brother.”
Johnson says his new firm won $13 million in judgments in the last five months in the Detroit area.
Fieger, perhaps best known for the representation of Dr. Jack Kevorkian that brought his name to national attention, is continuing to operate his suburban Detroit office. It now has 19 attorneys on its roster. His wins in recent years include a $144.5 verdict in a birth-injury case in Michigan, and a $30-million medical malpractice judgment in South Carolina, the Free Press notes.
He declined the newspaper’s request for comment.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Ex-Partner Sues Attorney Geoffrey Fieger, Contends ‘Intolerable Behavior’ Forced Him From Law Firm”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Fieger Firm Agrees to Pay $131K to Resolve FEC Contributions Probe”
ABA Journal (2007) “Motormouth”
