February 13, 2006

According to Prof. Bainbridge (Feb. 8), securities lawyer Mel Lifshitz has come under scrutiny for that possible ethical misstep. Lifshitz and his firm have filed more than a dozen securities actions naming as plaintiff a Delaware limited partnership called Colbart Birnet. However, per an article in TheStreet.com, "in five filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lifshitz is listed as a 'beneficial owner' of the Colbart Birnet partnership -- a circumstance Lifshitz says is plain wrong and attributes to 'human error.'" A charitable trust administered by Lifshitz's family, the Melly & Rochelle Lifshitz Charitable Trust has invested at least $227,655 in Colbart Birnet and a second charitable trust established by Lifshitz's New York-based firm, Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz, has invested a similar amount. Lifshitz says Hofstra lawprof and legal ethicist Roy Simon has given a clean bill of health to his firm's dealings with Colbart Birnet. "The National Law Journal recently named Bernstein Liebhard as one of the country's 'hot' plaintiffs' firms."