June 22, 2006

According to Justin Scheck, reporting in the Recorder, prominent San Francisco plaintiffs' firm Lieff Cabraser is in negotiations with Milberg to take on wholesale a group of fleeing Milberg partners. Another SF attorney, Melvin Goldman, thinks this is a good idea:

"I don't think anyone who works there is particularly tainted by working there," he said. Rather, it's the firm itself that's got the taint. And by vacating the firm, Milberg partners would have an easier time keeping clients made skittish by the federal charges.

He may be right. And, as Scheck notes, this grab would really power Lieff Cabraser up in securities law. But it seems just as likely that it could cut the other way, and that the Milberg taint won't vanish. Wait and see.