A Corporate Lawyer Concedes Corruption

Federal prosecutors targeted another corrupt lawyer today, and this time, it's not one of the Class Action Kings, but a corporate partner with one of the nation's largest and most profitable corporate law firms.

Samuel A. Fishman appeared in federal court in downtown Manhattan this afternoon to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud arising out of a "multi-year scheme" to defraud his law firm and its clients of more than $300,000 for personal and non-existent business expenses."

The "firm" as it is called in the criminal information, is not named, but described as a "major United States law firm" with offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The criminal complaint mentions that Fishman was a partner in the corporate department of the firm's New York office.

This afternoon, Latham & Watkins confirmed that it was the "firm" in question. David Gordon, Latham & Watkins' New York Office Managing Partner, said:

"As reflected in the statements from the U.S. Attorney's Office, our firm discovered the issues relating to Mr. Fishman in 2005, immediately acted to protect our clients fully, and disclosed the matter to appropriate law enforcement authorities. Mr. Fishman resigned from the firm at the time the issues were discovered. Since that time, we have cooperated fully with the investigation."

Fishman carried out his scheme from about 1993 to 2005, according to the criminal complaint. He was the "designated billing partner" for a number of the firm's "institutional clients" in banking, utilities, entertainment, and telecommunications.

He is named as a lawyer on Securities and Exchange Commission filings for Wireless One, AMC Entertainment Inc., and Olivetti International.

In his role as billing partner, Fishman mailed invoices to clients that mischaracterized expenses for non-reimbursable meals and parking fees totaling more than $200,000.

He also "repeatedly" mailed invoices to clients inflating the actual costs incurred, causing clients to pay more than $1,000 in nonexistent expenses. He also had the firm pay his own expenses, such as hotel bills, by falsely representing them as business expenses.

The complaint notes that the firm &medash; now known to be Latham — "expeditiously reimbursed its clients" upon discovering Fishman's scheme.

Fishman, 51, of Fairlawn, N.J., faces a maximum of 20 years in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for June 27.

All of which begs a motive: Latham & Watkins is one of three firms to breach the $2 billion barrier, logging that much in annual revenue in 2007. Annual profits per partner in 2007 were $2.27 million, up 22 percent from the 2006 partner draw of $1.8 million.

But Fishman seems to have been active in some charitable causes: His ZoomInfo entry lists him as a past member of the board of directors at the learning disabilities program in Metropolitan New Jersey at the SINAI School. And he was a member of the China Plate Club, of donors with contributions from $1,000 to $2,499, to Project Open Hand in San Francisco.

So why did he need to pad the bills? That remains a mystery. But this time around, a corporate lawyer took the fall.

by Karen Donovan