Free Republic

A former senior partner of a pioneering law firm that won billions for clients in securities fraud cases pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy. The plea agreement by Milberg Weiss ex-partner David Bershad in what the government has described as a kickback scheme ratchets up the pressure on William S. Lerach and co-founder Melvyn I. Weiss. The New York-based firm made its name launching shareholder suits against major corporations and recovered more than $45 billion for investors in such cases. Lerach left Milberg in 2004 to open a San Diego-based practice that quickly became one of the top securities class-action firms,...

Jan. 29--Facing an uphill battle to recover $144.7 million lost investing in Enron Corp., the University of California has hired America's most successful and controversial securities-fraud law firm -- a firm that has recovered billions of dollars for shareholders but is reportedly under investigation for improper tactics. The firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach has a phenomenal history of recouping money for investors. But some experts say the sheer magnitude of Enron's collapse -- billions gone, relatively few dollars available and a slew of people demanding their money back -- could make it difficult for any shareholder to ...

...The Spitzer complaint also inspired a flood of new lawsuits within days of his going public, including a class action suit from the king of trial lawyers, Bill Lerach -- this one against insurers. Mr. Lerach's firm was rewarded for its pluck when Mr. Garamendi (who is himself eyeing the California governorship) hired it to pursue any state claims against the industry.... We want to be clear that we aren't alleging formal collusion among these parties. But regardless of motive and communication, there certainly is a clear community of interest at work: Trial lawyers target an industry; politicians later get...

...Sinclair bent under enormous political pressure, but notably a kind we haven't seen wielded before to silence the media. We aren't referring to the raft of Democratic complaints filed with official agencies.... A double team by trial lawyers and government officials threatening shareholder suits.... William Lerach, a Democratic funder ... announced plans this week to sue Sinclair because by running the documentary it was creating controversy that cost it advertising revenue.... Media Matters, a liberal media agit-prop outfit, announced it was underwriting another shareholder suit and demanded that Sinclair provide equal time to those with opposing views. (It apparently escaped...

William Lerach on Tuesday made his biggest political splash since following up a 1994 White House breakfast with a $45,000 campaign contribution to Bill Clinton. This time, all it took was a letter. The lead partner of Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins rounded up the press corps with three mass e-mails and two conference calls to announce a possible shareholder claim against Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. The suit would link the conservative broadcasting company's plan to run a movie critical of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry with allegations of insider trading. Lerach told reporters that while no litigation...