Dreier LLP, RIP
This should not come as a great surprise, but let’s go ahead and close the loop. From the WSJ Law Blog:
Nearly two weeks ago, mere hours after Marc Dreier was arrested up in Canada for allegedly impersonating an in-house lawyer at a pension fund, lawyers at the eponymous law firm were heralding its doom. “It’s over,” said one litigation partner at the time.
On Tuesday, the predictions came true; Dreier LLP filed for Chapter 11 protection in bankruptcy court in Manhattan. In its petition, filed by Stephen Shimshak and Brian Hermann at Paul Weiss — where the receiver in the case, Mark Pomerantz, also hangs his hat — Dreier claims to have liabilities tallying between $10 million and $50 million.
The best reading in the petition is the list of creditors. Seems Mr. Dreier hadn’t been keeping up with the firm’s bills. Among those allegedly owed: the landlord of 499 Park Ave. ($908k); West Publishing ($441k); American Express ($323k); PR firm Van Prooyen Greenfield ($274k); ABM Janitorial Services ($89k); and AT&T ($81k).
And you thought your Westlaw bill was big….
A little more, after the jump.
Over the weekend, the New York Times had a sizable article on L’Affaire Dreier. Some nice tidbits:
Mr. Dreier’s lifestyle includes a waterfront home in the Hamptons, a Manhattan triplex and a place on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, Calif. He kept a Mercedes 500 in New York, an Aston Martin in California, and a 121-foot blue and white Heesen motor yacht with a Jacuzzi and a crew of 10 docked in Manhattan or St. Maarten. Associates said the boat, the Seascape, was the site of late-night parties at which Mr. Dreier, who is divorced, was often joined by an attractive young crowd.
An “attractive young crowd” — maybe a few Maxim models?
Dreier LLP Files For Bankruptcy; Millions in Unpaid Bills [WSJ Law Blog]
Lawyer Seen as Bold Enough to Cheat the Best [New York Times]
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Comments
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it was never a serious firm
OMG I am first, bow down.
OMG, I was not first
Has anyone commented in the other posts on this story about how UTTERLY RIDICULOUS this guy's picture is?
2= FAIL
FIRST -- BOW DOWN AND SNIFF THE INSIDES!
Why not a Maybach?
Drier's soon to be prison mate:
"BITCH SPREAD THE BUTT CHEEKS SO I CAN SMELL THE JUICY INSIDES!!"
Not such he was much of a lawyer in his later years, but Dreier sure knew how to take people to the cleaners!
Zing! Bam! Pow!
Above the Law= FAIL
CWT announced the half-Skadden bonus.
Anyone know what's going on with the Dreier Stein & Kahn firm in Santa Monica?
What a dirtbag this guy is.
Nice recycled wsj content
Is Dreier a Jew like Madoff and that professor who beat the prostitute almost to death?
BREAKING NEWS:
Mary Schapiro to replace Chris Cox as SEC Chairwoman
-Hedge Law
15 - yes, he is. but don't worry, donald rumsfeld and dick cheney are both card carrying christians who are responsible for the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent folks.
Quasi-serious question: my understanding from the coverage of this case is that all of the "partners" of the firm except Dreier were of the non-equity variety; how does that affect 1) their liability for the firm's debts, and 2) their potential ethical liability for Dreier's allegedly screwing around in client escrow accounts? My recollection from a scary ethics CLE a couple of years ago is that you can get disbarred if your partner steals client funds even if you knew nothing about it; does that apply to non-equity shareholders?
18, no course work on partnership law, huh? it all depends, especially on partnership agreement.
What if two Arabs or Iranians just ripped off a bunch of people (a la Madoff). Wouldn't people comment on that?
paul, weiss is the bees knees.
20 - absolutely. we would all be shocked that those psychos didn't blow themselves up in the process.
ponzi akbah bitches!
Just got a substitution of counsel in a case in which Dreier LLP is opposing counsel. I think the attorney used his home address.
The situation involving this firm is most unfortunate. On Monday of this week, the day before filing for bankruptcy, the Dreier firm was unable to make its payroll, leaving its associates, paralegals, secretaries and IT professionals unpaid, as well as the firm's more senior attorneys. The head of the firm, Marc Dreier, appears to have taken both the firm's other lawyers and the firm's clients to the cleaners in order to support an out of control personal lifestyle, including a 121-foot yacht with a full-time crew of 10 and multiple luxury residences. There has been no clear indication to date that the firm's other lawyers participated in his fraudulent conduct, or were even aware of it prior to his arrest. Among other things, Mr. Dreier failed to pay the premiums for his firm's professional malpractice insurance and allowed the coverage to lapse, leaving the other lawyers in his firm without any malpractice insurance if clients seek to recover their losses from the lawyers' personal assets. The saddest part is that, to my knowledge, some of the other lawyers in this firm were attorneys with exceptionally high professional, moral and ethical standards who were scrupulously honest and spent their entire professional careers focused on serving their clients' best interests and avoiding even a hint of impropriety. Some of those attorneys are now trying to start up new firms, but they are doing so under exceptionally difficult circumstances. Dreier personally appears to deserve the worst that Canadian prosecutors and American law enforcement agencies can throw at him, but I have a lot of sympathy for the honest members and employees of his firm who are now trying to pick up the pieces of their lives.
FIRST to say that the Michigan 2L comment thread should be reopened, and that Marc Dreier should pay Michigan 2L for sex.
15, enough with your antisemitic trolling. I recognize you from the post about the Michigan law student. It is despicable that you're trying to drum up racism on this site. Cease and desist.
The article doesn't state whether they are getting a half-skadden or what.
I'd like to point out what a pig 15 is for those who need a reminder.
15 - i dont know if he is jewish but if he is then he is like salk and sabin who saved your sorry a** from polio! this is just a start.
Seriously 15, WTF, Go find some other website to preach your Nazi nonsense. Wholly inappropriate.
Seriously 15, WTF, Go find some other website to preach your Nazi nonsense. Wholly inappropriate.
Seriously 15, WTF, Go find some other website to preach your Nazi nonsense. Wholly inappropriate.
Seriously 15, WTF, Go find some other website to preach your Nazi nonsense. Wholly inappropriate.
Was I crazy to not know what eponymous meant without consulting the good old wikipedia.
LAME this site sucks
Denny Crane.
Partners, equity or not, who allow one person to control all aspects of their business - accounting, billing, malpractice insurance - are not attorneys with "exceptionally high professional standards". They played a role in this, they blew it.
So who wants to share with us employees how we go about making a claim for unpaid wages in the bankruptcy proceeding?
Thank you #24 - you nailed it. Marc Dreier was one of the slickest con artists of all time - he fooled/screwed a lot of very smart and savvy people who were just trying to make a living. To those who are enjoying this mess, have a little compassion in the holiday season for those who are out of work and without medical or malpractice insurance.
Cheers to 24 for actually writing an thoughtful comment on this tragic situation. Its a refreshing change from the juvenile comments on Drier’s picture and anti-Semitic trolling that some other commenter fill their vapid lives with. I’ve worked with lawyers from the Drier firm and, with the exception of one guy who was of the “never-let-em-see-you-smile” school of litigation (too common among NY lawyers), the associates and partners were smart and dedicated, much like lawyers at any other firm. Which brings me to point: This could have happened to any of us, so show some sympathy. Happy holidays.
Put money in mattress. Buy gold. Trust nothing. Love the one you're with.
In this situation, it's hard to see how the non-equity partners' liability is any different from that of the associates. Given the real possibility of recovery against someone other than Dreier himself, this case could break new ground in seeing associates hit with the firm's liabilities.
42...Um...no, how would the associate's possibly be found liable? Thats ridiculous.
There is a case that would serve as precedent for recovery against the associates.
See .....Chauncey v. Mahoney.
There is also a case that says otherwise.
See.....42 and 44 v. Areacoupleofdooshes Inc.
There is also a case that says otherwise.
See.....42 and 44 v. Areacoupleofdooshes Inc.
I worked at Dreier for years until recently and I can assure you the partners and associates up until I left a few years ago were top notch in every way.
And they were terrific attorneys too.
#12 - Santa Monica will continue - removing the "Dreier" name.