BizJournals Portfolio
Feb 15 2008 12:00am EDT

Subprime Lawsuits: The Lerach Connection

Remember those subprime class-action suits? Well now Navigant Consulting has put together another league table - not of the most-sued companies but rather of the law firms filing the most suits. Amir Efrati has the lowdown:

Wannabe securities class-actions brought by investors of mortgage-backed securities and others made up about one-fifth of the filings, or more than 60 suits, and it's perhaps no surprise to learn that San Diego-based plaintiffs powerhouse Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP filed the most-more than a dozen.

Who are Coughlin Stoia? There might be a bit more name recognition if I told you they're the former Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins. As in Bill Lerach, the man shortly to spend two years behind bars for his conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Wasn't Lerach at Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, you ask? Well, yes, he was, until 2004, when Lerach and some other west-coast Milberg lawyers split off and formed their own competitor, Lerach Coughlin Stoia.

Interestingly, it's Lerach's old law firm, Milberg Weiss, which has suffered the most from his indictment and conviction. His new firm, Coughlin Stoia (no Lerach there any more), seems to be going as strong as ever.


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