Bernie Madoff's attorney was not too bright. Had I handled the Madoff defense, I would have instructed Madoff to consult with every known associate that Judge Chin had in private practice. That way, I would have moved for Judge Chin's recusal and gone down the line until drawing a judge like Jed "Lightly Getting Off" Rakoff.

TTTird??

Jed Rakoff is the shit. You got to read his opinions.

Fifth!

Sixth!

Seventh! This is a hoot!

Eighth! I should be Studying for the Bar, but it's okay cause I know Seton Hall Prepared me well!

Ninth!

10th

Tenth! Hey PE, what do you think of my diligence? Want to hire me? I never do a task in a half-assed manner.

Twelfth!

Thirteenth! Am I ever going to stop?

The disparate sentences for Dreier and Madoff prove that the justice system is skewed against the Jew!

13th! - also both the Madoff and Dreier sentences seem about right.

The associates or whatever the hell they were at the firm Drier LLP must all have been brain dead not to see through this. Where's the money coming from? Gee, I don't know and I don't care.

15 = epic fail

15

DAMMIT. FUCK THE REST OF YOU FOR MESSING UP MY RUN. I WAS HAVING FUN TOO. TIME TO FIND SOME SETON HALL BARBRI HOES! SHOULDN'T BE THAT HARD (BUT I WILL BE). GET IT? I'M SO CLEVER.

14 - just one problem they are both jewish

Nineteenth! No point in stopping just cause a few things don't go your way!

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. FUCK YOU 19.

21 - where

-19

19, 14 here. Why are you injecting race into this?

22 - Depends. Do you have a Pussy?

Pull over!

It's a cardigan. Killer boots, man!

The New V10

Wachtell
S&C
DPW
Cleary
Debevoise
Paul Weiss
Covington & Burling
Williams & Connolly

Yes that's only 8 firms, but no others deserve to be V10.

Wow, you kids studying for the bar really oughta be getting back to the books...

Why shouldn't this have been a death penalty case?

Should have gone to Concord--
than no self-esteem issues

Well, sometimes we really get what is due to us.

Andrew,
Get Rid of Timeshare

Well, sometimes we really get what is due to us.

Andrew,
Get Rid of Timeshare

Maybe I am missing some facts. How is it that none of his fellow partners seemed to notice that he was stealing zillions of dollars? How did Dreier happen to draft, all by himself (?), brazenly fraudulent instruments and pedal those same instruments around the globe without anyone else at the law firm finding out? Is there really nobody else who is going to get indicted out of this scam? Hard to believe.

Hmm... I think if it was only ten years it would totally have been worth it to live like a billionaire for five.

Isn't Drier the *only* partner?

I dealt with one person from Dreier LLP. She was nice. Can't even remember her name. Would love to hear stories about the firm from any associates that were there. I recall walking by their office from time to time on Park Avenue. It was a small floor level lobby I believe, but looked nice with a modernish decor. My wife ribbed me once as we were both walking by and said "they have a fancy nice looking office, you should try to lateral there!". Glad I only rarely take my wife's career advice.

Does Elie's last line re: blind/deaf justice make sense to anyone?

This post was made at 5:00 a.m. this morning in the Concord Law School thread. I do not believe it has received the attention it deserved, as I doubt anyone is still clicking on that thread. So, for your viewing (and commenting) pleasure I have cut and pasted this idiotic post below. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

The critics of Concord and online legal education generally haven't a clue what they are talking about. Concord graduates are generally not wet-behind-the-ears students but have an average age in the 40's and are already very successful in other fields - there are numerous MDs, PhDs, Profesors, etc. etc. There have been congressmen, world experts in various fields, and so on. Indeed, the thoughtless insulting comments left here indicate how clueless many B&M law school graduates must be! Concord graduates work damn hard, usually while holding down other full-time jobs - indeed, at least one graduate studied while deployed in the middle east while serving his country. It takes an incredible commitment and hard work to succeed at Concord and the standards required there are just as demanding as any other law school and if their students pass the Bar exam, why shouldn't they practice? There is so much self-aggrandizement from B&M graduates and their ignorance of Concord's methods and the quality of education received is all too apparent. I would suggest they actually meet with a few Concord alumni and find out the truth about them before they criticize.

I, of course, am a Concord graduate, indeed valedictorian July 2005. I studied every night until 2-3 a.m. , using the exact same hornbooks and casebooks as any other law school students, while working full-time and fostering and adopting multiple kids. Indeed, one of my classes was actually offered by Cornell Law School, for which I got an "A" grade, so I can only assume I achieved a typical Cornell "A" grade standard, despite only using a mouse (and the keyboard occasionally!)! My wife sacrificed so much to enable me to study and it frustrates me beyond words when I read the narrow-minded, self-important attitudes expressed in many of these comments.

As for Ross Mitchell, as someone who knows him personally, he is an incredibly intelligent man who would run rings around most attorneys.

So, my message to critical B&M law school graduates would be, grow up, and prove your law school is better by your work, not by slinging adolescent, imbecilic and groundless insults.

Ian Feavearyear J.D., B.A.

Hey, if I got 20 yrs in white collar prison, do you think the feds would pick up my student loans in the meantime?

--Loyola2L

To 16 - You are retarded. What associates have any visibility to a firm's books? Even better what associates would have any visibility to a firm's books with a sole equity shareholder? Even more better, none of the effin' Partners knew. Even betterest, don't talk unless you know what you are talking about, retard.

White and Williams secure.

Awesome job by Dreier's lawyers! He'll be out ripping people off again before you know it!

This is just what our forefathers intended!

My country, 'tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing

Let me get this straight. Dreier steals hundreds of millions of dollars over a 7 year period of time. He does it by faking notes and accounting statements. He pretends he is someone else, even has meetings in the office of the client (Solow) which is the subject of these fake notes, he pretends he is someone else, looks the other people straight in the eye and lies to steal their money. Not once. Not twice. But repeatedly over a 7 year period of time.

He loots escrow funds at his firm. He left behind only crumbs. He even stole another (the last?) 10 mill in escrow using his cell phone while he sat in a Canadian jail cell.

Let me repeat that. HE STOLE ANOTHER TEN MILLION WHILE SITTING IN A CANADIAN JAIL CELL. At that time, he had to know the scam was over. But he still stole ANOTHER TEN MILLION FROM ESCROW!

He stole all of his employees last pay checks (the Dec. 15th paychecks). Right before Christmas. He stole all of their December health insurance payments. He stole the Nov-Dec premium payment for malpractice insurance.

And this ass-hat Rakoff gives him 20 years? 20 years?? WTF???

It just proves, I guess, that you don't have to be a genius, or even very smart, to be a fedreal judge.

In some ways Dreier is worse than Madoff. Madoff was a dropout who started as a clerk, with nothing to really speak of. Dreier had everything, amazing education, top partnerships at top firms. Madoff was just trying to keep up. Drieier had no excuse.

PE is clearly not a litigator or at least not a competent or experienced one. Recusal is not that easy. Typical idoitic PE posting.

Neither one of these assholes has an excuse. Their greed and criminality are obvious. Maximum punishment is warranted for both, and will be afforded one way or another, under the Fed Sentencing Guidelines. Good riddance to them both.

Yes, it makes sense that financial crimes should yield sentences 5-50 times longer than crimes of sexual violence. That makes sense. After all, raping a 13-year-old isn't nearly as bad as stealing money.

People need to step away from the trees and take a look at the goddamn forest. We'll toss 70-year-old whitebread suits in jail and throw away the key, but when a redneck asshole rapes his stepdaughter and sodomizes her with a rusty pole, it's time to bring in all his redneck relatives to talk about how bad his youth was?

Yes, Bernie and Marc should go to jail, for a long time. 15, 20 years seems reasonable, maybe even 30: give them enough time to really hate the deprivation of liberty and punish them for the serious, life-changing crimes they committed. But when you consider 150 years for what amounts to fancy theft versus 5 years for life-destroying rape, you're really looking at an upside-down sentencing universe.

Marc Dreier just gave me a conditional offer to start at his firm in 2030.

This comment is addressed to post no. 45.

Recusals are not easy to obtain if you are a sub-standard attorney toiling your life away at a non-peer firm. Success must be a stranger to you.

Nothing is worth anything unless it involves Canada. and Dreier tried to thwart OTPP. Not to worry CC was on scene to minimized the damage that Dreier could inflict

-Bay Street is Awesome!

Too true 49. If not for the Canadians, Marc might be happily scamming away even now.

46 - Amen

the rest of you morons trying to post first, second, third and those who think hilarity ensues when you repeat profanities over and over

Please - get a life

Parter Emeritus,

You should spend more time learning how to practice law instead of boring us with your ignorant postings. Madoff would never have hired you to handle his defense because (i) you are, at best, some bottom tier law school grad who lucked into working at a decent corporate firm and now uses firm ranking and prestige to cover your insecurity and ignorance of trial practice; (ii) your strategy would have been impossible to carry out since Madoff was on house arrest when the judge was assigned; and (iii) Judge Chin isn't known to be particularly harsh on defendants so there wouldn't have been much of a reason to conjure up some baseless request for a recusal. But, of course, your other hindsight is usually 20/15. That's probably why you still manage to impress that little lap dog you bought so you'd have something warm and live to talk to and sleep with.

V/R,

Better Firm Partner

Hmmm. 20 year sentence. Curious. That means that he will be in his 70s when he gets out. That is if he doesn't croak first. Still young enough to start a new scam. I wouldn't be surprised if he isnt' already plotting it. As many criminals who have been released have stated that while incarcerated all you do is think.

This may be posted too late for anyone to read, but I have to disagree with 46. Although the criminal act 46 describes is disgusting, it effected fewer people… albeit to a greater extent. Madoff/Dreier effected more people to a lesser extent - or at least, lesser to one's imagination. Who is to know how devastating a loss this may have been to some of the individuals involved.

At a societal level, the white collar crimes of Madoff/Dreier are more significant. At an emotion level, violent criminal acts top the charts.

I believe in greater sentencing for unthinkable, heinous bodily harm that causes lasting, perhaps permanent adverse psychological effects. But the malicious behavior exhibited by Madoff/Dreier, well outlined in 42's post and poorly described by 46 as merely "fancy theft", should also be categorized as both unthinkable and heinous within the context of white collar crime.

True justice should be able to consider these circumstances to balance the societal and emotional, and be meted out accordingly.