Lawyer Seeks Treatment In Prison

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The New York Sun

A once-prominent class action lawyer who just began serving a two-year prison sentence for conspiring to pay kickbacks to plaintiffs in securities lawsuits, William Lerach, is seeking to enter a prison treatment program for alcoholism, according to court papers filed yesterday.

“Lerach has suffered for years with severe alcoholism and faces the substantial possibility of relapse without the treatment offered,” Lerach’s defense attorney, John Keker, wrote in a motion asking Judge John Walter to recommend Lerach for a “residential drug abuse treatment program” at the Lompoc, Calif., prison where he is serving time.

Details of Lerach’s alcohol problem are contained in letters from three physicians and a psychologist. Mr. Keker asked the judge to keep those letters under seal, but the public motion says Lerach has “suffered from alcoholism for more than 20 years.”

Reached by phone at his San Francisco office yesterday, Mr. Keker said he could not comment for this article.

According to the motion, the treatment program would result in Lerach being separated from the general prison population for extended periods over a six- to 12-month time frame.

The motion says prosecutors took no position on Lerach’s request.

Lerach, 61, was long one of the top partners at America’s most prolific class-action law firm, known at the time as Milberg Weiss. In the past year, four lawyers who were once name partners at the firm, Lerach, Melvyn Weiss, David Bershad, and Steven Schulman, have pleaded guilty to involvement in a conspiracy to pay certain investors a share of the attorney’s fees won in securities lawsuits the firm brought. Paying the investors helped Milberg Weiss file the cases quickly, a factor that was key at the time to getting lead status.

“Bill has accepted responsibility for conduct that had no victims and is doing all he can to address his human frailties,” a political strategist friendly with Lerach, Christopher Lehane, said in response to a query from The New York Sun. “When you take it in the totality of all he has done, it is clear the guy has always stood up — and will continue to stand up — to make sure the little guy has an even playing field.”

Lerach left Milberg Weiss in 2004, taking many of the firm’s lawyers to start a new San Diego-based firm, then known as Lerach Coughlin. He resigned before pleading guilty last year. In light of their felony convictions, all four former Milberg Weiss lawyers are expected to be disbarred.


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