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September 19, 2007
AP: Belgium for sale on eBay
Charles de Gaulle famously said that Belgium is a country invented by the British to annoy the French. Belgium and Belgians indeed are highly complex. Belgium historically has been the "battlefield of Europe", and there are overlapping communities here speaking Dutch, French and German. Politics are often conducted along these lines: the Dutch-speaking Flemish v. French-speaking Walloons. Personally, WAC? finds Belgians--you can't generalize, but we will--educated, efficient, smart, artistic, sophisticated, multilingual, haughty, festive, solid and yet a bit high strung (takes one to know one). A highly civilized region with subtle, and very old, tensions lurking. Finally, one Belgian, well, just lost it: "Someone Tries to Sell Belgium on EBay".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Bill Lerach Guilty Plea: This disturbed WAC?
As PointofLaw.com, the San Francisco-based The Recorder and other sources reported yesterday, San Diego-based plaintiffs' class action guru William Lerach will plead guilty and be sentenced to 1 to 2 years in prison and pay $8 million in fines for arranging undisclosed payments to certain Rule 23 plaintiffs in securities-related lawsuits. The plea will be entered in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles). District Judge John Walter must agree to the sentencing range. More here, including the information, plea agreement and DOJ press release at WSJ's Law Blog.
WAC?'s gratuitous take. All of our clients and most of the lawyers in Hull McGuire PC never liked the class action bar much--but that's not the point. Lerach and his team at his firms were creative, aggressive and generally good craftsmen. They were good at what they did--i.e., a new kind of economic terrorism aimed at corporations via research,
pleadings and discovery--even if we hated it. If this new stuff is true, what a 100% waste of talent, energy and resolve. More importantly, what was taught/imparted to new, junior and younger lawyers in those firms over the years--at best that the law was a cynical game, a dodge? No moral high-ground, gloating or even humor by WAC? would ever fit this story.
Only sadness could.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)