Hynes Criticized in NY City Bar Prez Race Over Milberg Connection
A renowned trial lawyer running unopposed to serve as the president of the New York City Bar Association is being targeted for criticism because of her reluctance to discuss her longtime prior job at a law firm that is now under indictment.
Patricia Hynes, a former federal prosecutor who is now senior litigation counsel in the New York office of British powerhouse Allen & Overy, is not accused of having done anything wrong at the law firm now known as Milberg Weiss and formerly known as Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach. But simply because she worked there for many years in a senior role, Hynes should be expected to offer a public explanation of how it happened that she worked there for so long yet was unaware of the secret kickbacks that three former clients have pleaded guilty to accepting from the law firm, writes Roger Parloff, a senior editor at Fortune magazine, in a Legal Pad blog post today.
“I don’t think Hynes’ tenure at Milberg Weiss necessarily disqualifies her from serving as president of the City Bar,” he writes, noting that a highly respected group of lawyers who serve on the bar’s nominating committee have unanimously approved her candidacy. “Maybe if the public had heard her say whatever she told the nominating committee, it would understand why the City Bar feels comfortable choosing her as its next president. But the public hasn’t heard any such thing.”
This unprecedented indictment of a major law firm along with several of its senior partners is discussed in an ABA Journal cover story that was published a year ago.
Since then, as detailed in ABAJournal.com coverage, the two partners charged at that time, David J. Bershad and Steven G. Schulman, have pleaded guilty, as the New York Law Journal also notes in a recent update on the case.
Meanwhile, two more senior partners were indicted in the case and enhanced charges were filed against the firm, which was accused of being a racketeering enterprise.
Like the other two partners, William Lerach agreed to a plea deal.
But Melvyn Weiss vowed to fight the case and has pleaded not guilty.
A trial in the case is now scheduled for August 2008, notes the New York Sun.
