THE JURISPRUDENTIA CLUB

GREENBERG TRAURIG IS A SORRY LAW FIRM

by David Arthur Walters May 23, 2012 Greenberg Traurig is Floridas most powerful law firm, so powerful that the Miami Herald was afraid to name it when it first broke the story on Allen Stanfords massive Ponzi scheme, which in large part was carried out thanks to Greenberg Traurigs handiwork in Antigua and in Florida, once home to Charles Ponzi himself. The powerful Florida limited liability partnership was already notorious for its alleged misdeeds in the Hamilton Bank fraud, and for its involvement in Abscam conspiracies to unlawfully influence influential politicians and steal trust property and so on. And now a federal judge may hold the arrogant firms lawyers in contempt for withholding damning evidence in a suit against the banker of one of Floridas most powerful and therefore Page 1 of 4

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most influential and highly respected lawyers, Ponzi-schemer Scott Rothstein. Furthermore, it is alleged that Greenberg Traurig lawyer Donna Evans, whose name is not currently listed on the Florida Bar website as a licensed attorney, may have tampered with or doctored a crucial bank document, which reminds us of the doctoring Greenberg Traurig lawyer Carlos Loumiet was accused of in the Hamilton Bank case. If David Mandel, the plaintiffs lawyer, has his way, TD Bank will be subjected to a criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorneys office for perpetrating the fraud on the court alleged. Apparently, as a matter of professional courtesy, he would not hold lawyers at Greenberg Traurig similarly culpable of crime, for he speaks of their clients crimes only, at least according to the Miami Herald reports. Of course civil sanctions could be assessed against Greenberg Traurig. TD Bank has fired The Firm, and we will not be surprised to hear that the bank blames the whole affair on its former legal agent. At least the Miami Herald was not afraid to name The Firm this time. For example, its 19 May 2012 report begins with: The head of Miamis powerful Greenberg Traurig law firmsaid he was sorry to a federal judge Friday. The firms executive director, Cesar Alvarez, merely apologized for a mistake and not for a misdeed. Two Greenberg Traurig lawyers were put on the stand, where they confessed how they learned that The Firm had misrepresented the truth. Misrepresentation is a hackneyed term with a double-meaning: the representation may be a mistake, or it may be intentionally misleading. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Alvarez denied that there was a conspiracy or bad intention. A non-lawyer, especially if s/he is English or Welsh, may wonder why The Firm has not been severely disciplined or disbarred given its enduring pattern of misconduct. In England, the Bar Standards Board, one of the regulatory agencies empowered to license and to intervene by the overarching Legal Services Board pursuant to the Legal Services Act of 2007, might swoop down on The Firms offices, conduct a thorough investigation, and divest The Firm of its license for persistent violations of the BSB Code of Conduct. The Core Duties most pertinent to Greenberg Traurig would include observation of its duty to the court in the administration of justice, acting with integrity and honesty, behaving in a way that would not diminish the trust and confidence which the public places in The Firm and the profession, acting in the best interests of clients, and managing its business effectively and in such a way as to achieve compliance with legal and regulatory obligations. But we are not in England or Wales, where an exciting, progressive revolution is taking place in the legal trade, much of which is now willing to admit to being a money-grubbing business despite the barristers noble demeanor, now eager to open it up to competition and outside investment, and to regulate same for the sake of consumers instead of the power elite. Alas, we are still in the Black Law Lagoon of Florida, a swampland where law firms, even creatures such as Greenberg Traurig, are not required to be licensed. Of course, if you are wronged by Greenberg Traurig LLP, you can sue the firm and the partner who wronged you provided you have a quarter-million dollars for a lawyer willing to take on the most powerful and influential firm in the state. LLPs must have insurance to cover wrongful acts. Page 2 of 4

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Partners are personally liable for their own malpractice, errors, omissions, negligence, or wrong acts they commit or are committed by persons under their direct supervision. They are not liable for commissions of other partners. Partners in an LLP are not liable for the partnerships debts, but they are liable of the personally injure someone, personally guarantee a loan, engage in an illegal activity that damages the business, fail to deposit taxes withheld from wages, or treat the business as a personal extension. So you have a civil remedy as a consumer if you can afford it. The Firm and its insurer can afford to absorb the losses consumers might inflict. What about ethical violations? When its attorneys get caught red-handed trouble, it will conduct a diligent investigation after the fact, fire the attorney and pack him off to chambers elsewhere, release a statement to the media that The Firm does not tolerate misconduct, thus washing the legal entitys hands of any further responsibility, and then continue with unrevealed corruption apace. No, nothing can be done about The Firm itself. The Florida Bar licenses only individual lawyers, not law firms. Mind you that The Firm is almost as powerful as the Florida Bar, the regulatory organ of the Supreme Court of Florida, and has actually, in a colossal conflict of interest, represented the Florida Bar in cases. The Florida Bar itself is in the hands of the legal elite, and is the veritable epitome of conflict of interest, representing the political and economic interests of the profession, particularly the overriding interests of powerful, influential law firms on which no files are kept because they are unregulated and undisciplined, while at the same time having the responsibility for licensing and disciplining the profession. Now we can hardly blame Greenberg Traurig for becoming a legal leviathan in a legal swampland where all law firms are unlicensed. In that arena, the law of the jungle governs, so let the fittest survive. And the bigger it becomes, the more difficult it is for any competition to bring it down, especially if it is favored by all three branches of government and the so-called fourth branch fears going after it. In 2009 the Florida Bar was asked for any records it had on complaints made against Greenberg Traurig attorneys in respect to the Allen Stanford fraud. The names of Florida Bar lawyers are associated with the names of the firms they work for on the records available to the public on the Florida Bar website, wherefore it was believed that a database search including the relevant fields would turn up the names of Greenberg Traurig lawyers named in complaints about the Stanford fraud. Mainstream media reporters are frequently given lists of attorneys against whom complaints have been lodged in respect to a single public event. Other journalists are usually told that any information released on pending investigations will be limited to the name of the attorney and the event, but only if the attorney is first named and the exact nature of the complaint is described. That is, non-mainstream journalists must all ready know that a complaint has been filed, preferably from a major media report, in order for the Florida Bar to confirm that it was filed. Kenneth Marvin, head of lawyer discipline at the Florida Bar, responded on 16 October 2009 to a request for names of Greenberg Traurig lawyers related to the Stanford affair: We do not keep Page 3 of 4

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records pertaining to law firms, since law firms do not have a license to practice law. We do have records on every member of The Florida Bar, so that is why we cannot give you records for the Greenberg Traurig law firm. Of course good policy would track law firm membership and correlate disciplinary actions to firms. Seasoned observers including investigative reporters have good reason to believe that the Florida Bar pursues the little guys and cottons to the powerful political firms whose most prominent attorneys are frequently described as "distinguished members of The Florida Bar" who have held with positions with the Florida Bar. The highly paid profession of law considers itself as a sort of fiduciary for the people, a trustee of the principles of equity that freedom holds dear, yet we find lawyers involved in the greatest frauds, in the massive defrauding of their ultimate beneficiary, the people at large. As we have seen in Florida recently, those lawyers have been the most highly regarded and trusted members of the legal profession. The greater the number of lawyers who gain the divine blessing of powerful law firms by narcissistically submerging themselves in organic combinations, the greater will be the frauds perpetrated. Competition between lawyers and between law firms must be fostered, yet law firms themselves should be licensed and disciplined. That will never happen in Florida as long as the legal elite have the courts, the legislature, the executive branch, and therefore the people in a stranglehold.

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