Legal News

To Bill, says judge, with not so much love: no college course for community service

By Richard Binder

It's safe to say that U.S. District Judge John Walter in Los Angeles is no fan of Bill Lerach.

Apart from overseeing the criminal case that federal prosecutors brought against Lerach's former law firm, now called Milberg LLP, and several former partners involving kickbacks to lead plaintiffs, Walter devoted several minutes during a hearing yesterday reciting public statements in which Lerach appeared to display a lack of remorse for his crime. The hearing was devoted to Lerach's request to complete some of his community service by teaching a course at the University of California, Irvine School of Law.

Lerach sought credit for designing and teaching a proposed course at the law school called "Regulation of Free Market Capitalism ? Are We Failing," which would begin in January 2011. In a July 19 motion, Lerach said that he "would caution students to practice law ethically and within the strictures of the law, and he would counsel them on the steps they might take to avoid his fate." He said he had been consulting with UCI Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky since February regarding the course and would not get paid.

Based on the statements Walter cited, the judge concluded that he only message Lerach could offer students was this: "Don't get caught."

Full story at NLJ.com.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on August 10, 2010 (boomark / email).