{"id":3656,"date":"2005-03-04T00:23:31","date_gmt":"2005-03-04T04:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/03\/04\/clone-that-judge\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:57:55","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:57:55","slug":"clone-that-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/03\/04\/clone-that-judge\/","title":{"rendered":"clone that judge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a name='a3376'><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT size=\"2\">In the spirit of <EM><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/stories\/storyReader$34\"><FONT color=\"#000000\">ethicalEsq<\/FONT><\/A><\/EM>, let&#8217;s give a tip of the hat to <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.cicu.org\/alumnihall\/preska.php\"><FONT size=\"2\">Hon. Loretta A. Preska<\/FONT><\/A><FONT size=\"2\">, US Dist. Ct.&nbsp;<\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/air.fjc.gov\/servlet\/tGetInfo?jid=1936\"><FONT color=\"#000000\" size=\"2\">Judge<\/FONT><\/A><FONT size=\"2\">,&nbsp;<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/hattipsmallflip.gif\" alt=\"hat tip small flip\" \/><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><A href=\"http:\/\/www.nysd.uscourts.gov\/judges\/USDJ\/preska.htm\"><FONT color=\"#000000\" size=\"2\">SDNY<\/FONT><\/A><FONT size=\"2\">, for her excellent performance cutting fees in the <EM>Bristol-Myers Squibb Securities Litigation<\/EM>, <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT size=\"2\">03-2251.&nbsp;(details <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.law.com\/jsp\/printerfriendly.jsp?c=LawArticle&amp;t=PrinterFriendlyArticle&amp;cid=1109128251487\"><FONT color=\"#000000\" size=\"2\">here<\/FONT><\/A><FONT size=\"2\">, <EM>NYLaw Journal<\/EM>, &#8220;Judge Halves Fees Sought,&#8221; Feb. 28, 2005; see <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.overlawyered.com\/archives\/002074.html\"><FONT color=\"#000000\" size=\"2\">Olson<\/FONT><\/A><FONT size=\"2\">)<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/FONT><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/preskaj.gif\" alt=\"preskaj\" \/>&nbsp;&nbsp;<EM><FONT size=\"1\">Hon. Loretta A. Preska<\/FONT><\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"><FONT size=\"1\"><EM>orig. photo and bio <\/EM><\/FONT><\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.cicu.org\/alumnihall\/preska.php\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"1\"><EM>here<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"1\"><EM> <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">In slicing&nbsp;a request for $22 million in fees to about $12 million&nbsp;(from two firms with too many names to <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">repeat), Judge Preska&nbsp;helped clarify for other judges&nbsp;&#8212; and maybe even for plaintiffs&#8217; lawyers&nbsp;&#8212; the <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">factors that need to be considered&nbsp;when&nbsp;counsel want to be paid a percentage of their clients&#8217; <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">winnings.&nbsp; Here, lead counsel wanted about 7.5% of the settlement payout. &nbsp;In the decision, Judge <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">Preska&nbsp;told them why they hadn&#8217;t&nbsp;earned that much&nbsp;(per <EM><A href=\"http:\/\/www.law.com\/jsp\/printerfriendly.jsp?c=LawArticle&amp;t=PrinterFriendlyArticle&amp;cid=1109128251487\">NYLJ<\/A><\/EM>), pointing out: <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">&#8220;[I]t is not thirty times more difficult to settle a thirty million dollar case as it is to settle a one <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">million dollar case,&#8221;<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\">The case &#8220;fell along the low end of the continuum of risks&#8221; for the plaintiffs&#8217; lawyers. <\/DIV><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\">&#8220;Lead counsel merely drafted complaints setting out roughly chronologically the material<br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">in the public record and alleging Defendant&#8217;s knowledge and scienter.&#8221; <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\">The situation &#8220;suggests that it was the Company&#8217;s desire, prompted by the SEC, to put its<br \/>\n<DIV align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">house in order that caused the settlement, not any action on the part of Lead Counsel&#8221;&nbsp;&#8212; <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">and,&nbsp;the attorneys benefited from the existence of an SEC action based on similar facts. <\/FONT><\/FONT><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/LI><\/UL><\/FONT><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/hattipsmallneg.gif\" alt=\"hat tip small neg\" \/>&nbsp; Preska joins my short list of judicial heroes willing to police unreasonable fees (which includes<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">NYS justice <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2003\/05\/31\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#000000\">Charles E. Ramos<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I nonetheless wonder what &#8212; other than self-aggrandizement and<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">delusions of entitlement &#8212; would make the lawyers involved here believe they deserve to take from <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">their clients even the lesser amount&nbsp;granted of $12 million.&nbsp; <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">&#8220;tinyredcheck&#8221;&nbsp;&nbsp; I also wonder whether any of the thousands of Main Street p\/i lawyers who<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">charge a standard contingency fee to the average injured client are paying any<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">attention.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; They ignore ABA Ethics <A href=\"http:\/\/www.prairielaw.com\/articles\/article.asp?channelId=29&amp;subId=124&amp;articleId=1336\"><FONT color=\"black\">Opinion 94-389<\/FONT><\/A>;&nbsp; they ignore the lip-service <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">given by <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.civiljustice.org\/Pages\/05-ContingentFeeSystem.html\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#000000\">trial lawyer associations<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">&nbsp;to the requirement that contingency fees be&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">based on &#8220;risk, cost and effort-<\/FONT><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">required;&#8221; and they even ignore the preaching <\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">of <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2003\/07\/29#a154\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\" color=\"#000000\">Prof. Brickman<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\"> and <EM><A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2004\/01\/07#a482\"><FONT color=\"#000000\">ethicalEsq<\/FONT><\/A><\/EM>.&nbsp; <\/FONT><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">If only we could clone Judge Preska, and&nbsp;<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">have her reviewing contingency fee agreements across the land.&nbsp;&nbsp;A guy can<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman,Times,Serif\">dream. <\/FONT><\/FONT><FONT size=\"+0\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman\"><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV dir=\"ltr\" align=\"left\"><FONT size=\"+0\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"3\"><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT size=\"2\"><FONT face=\"Arial\"><SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><FONT face=\"Arial\"><\/FONT><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">into the night<BR>we talk of human cloning<BR>snowflakes<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">winter solstice<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">our son reads a fairy tale<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">to his unborn son<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">Still at the edge<BR>of its shadow&#x2014;<BR>the frog<\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"2\"><\/FONT><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/ethicalesq\/LylesRain.jpg\" alt=\"LylesRain\" \/> <A href=\"http:\/\/www.millikin.edu\/haiku\/writerprofiles\/PeggyLyles.html\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman\" color=\"#ff0000\" size=\"2\">Peggy Lyles<\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"2\">, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT face=\"Arial\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"1\">from <\/FONT><A href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/tg\/detail\/-\/1929820038\/qid=1106161035\/sr=1-1\/ref=sr_1_1\/104-1569557-1267912?v=glance&amp;s=books\"><FONT face=\"Times New Roman\" color=\"#000000\" size=\"1\"><EM>To Hear the Rain<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A><FONT face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"1\"> (Brooks Books, 2002)<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT size=\"1\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><br \/>\n<DIV><FONT size=\"2\"><\/FONT>&nbsp;<\/DIV><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/FONT><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the spirit of ethicalEsq, let&#8217;s give a tip of the hat to Hon. Loretta A. Preska, US Dist. Ct.&nbsp;Judge,&nbsp; SDNY, for her excellent performance cutting fees in the Bristol-Myers Squibb Securities Litigation, 03-2251.&nbsp;(details here, NYLaw Journal, &#8220;Judge Halves Fees Sought,&#8221; Feb. 28, 2005; see Olson) &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Hon. Loretta A. Preska orig. photo and bio [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-WY","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13340,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3656\/revisions\/13340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}