This is your last chance to vote in the Biglaw Lawyers Behaving Badly Bracket. Here is the final matchup:
Well, well, well. The little 4 seed that could. Jeffrey Wertkin, the former Akin Gump partner who was arrested earlier this year, has made it to the finals of our March Madness Bracket that seeks to determine who, in the history of Above the Law, is the worst-behaved Biglaw attorney. Wertkin’s sin? Well, he stands accused of trying to sell a whistleblower complaint — one he had access to from his time working at the DOJ, before he moved to Akin — for a grand total of $310,000. When arrested, he allegedly told the arresting officer, “My life is over.” And here’s the AtL pièce de résistance: he attempted to make the deal for the complaint using a pseudonym and wearing a wig.
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Also in the finals is Edward De Sear. He’s serving time — 17.5 years — for child pornography and sex trafficking. And not that I am trying to pull a Comey and tilt the vote here, but, come on, this guy is definitely the worst, hence all that jail time. There are real victims to De Sear’s crimes and, despite the light-hearted nature of the competition, that shouldn’t be overlooked.
But your vote is your own, and you’re free to vote for the funny story of the Biglaw partner who (allegedly) shot himself in the foot and whose only victim seems to be his own career. Or you could vote for the real downer of a story because the crimes involved are just beyond the pale, and nothing else comes close.
Voting is open until Monday at 5:00 p.m. EST.
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Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).