In the July edition of PORTFOLIO, Bill Lerach has joined other convicted criminals, such as Conrad Black, in having his say in the media.
Titled "I Am Guilty," Lerach's five-page essay is an extraordinary document. It manifests A Con in Full. Literature and exposition courses will be analyzing it for years as a classic example of the Falliable First Person Narrator, that is the teller of a tale who doesn't realize what's he's disclosing about his myopic self.
Lerach hits his stride of high rant in the sixth paragraph. There he begins railing against the gang-bang system of federal prosecutors and judges. As a seasoned attorney he surely knew this pressure is exerted or, as he states, they "hold all the cards." A prudent, that is, not arrogant, attorney would have bent over backward staying within the letter of law to keep off their radar. Knowing that the "IRS holds all the cards," most of us are scared honest.
Then there is the kind of Clintonian distinction between what was legal prior to the 1995 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and how after that fee-splitting with selected plaintiffs was illegal. Like Clinton's parsing of "is," it mocks our intelligence - and common sense. Not long ago it was legal to drive without a seat belt fastened. Now it's illegal. If apprehended tonight for driving without our seatbelts, yeah sure, we are going to explain to the police and judge that it was at one time okay.
Worst of all is his claim to be the champion of shareholders. Many of us whose rights he and his fellow securities litigation plaintiff attorneys championed in class-action suits wound up getting peanuts. After my WorldCom stock went to zero, I joined in the shareholders class-action suit. That meant filling out forms, providing the documentation, up-dating status material - and hoping. The first check I received from that farce was for 14 dollars and some change. The second check was for about two dollars. It's my hunch the many lawyers representing my rights fared much better.
There's more. Lerach explains to us, in fireside chat fashion, how the legal system is filled with shades of gray. "The law," he gravely informs us, "is full of soft edges and subjective decisions." Who among the readers of PORTFOLIO doesn't know that? We lead-paint watchers know that most of all. Millions of dollars by the Rhode Island defendants Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries, and Millennium Holdings have been spent dealing with the point of view of one judge who had his seemingly unique interpretation of the "Wood" pollution case.
Like Shakespeare's King Lear, Lerach is truly convinced he is a man more sinned against than sinning.
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