In the end, says the lawyer who defended the Milberg firm for more than four years, he had no choice: If Milberg was to survive as a law firm, it had to reach a deal with Los Angeles prosecutors to avoid a guilty plea or conviction in the federal probe of kickbacks to lead plaintiffs in securities class actions.
“The firm had to accept terms which were onerous financially,” says the soft-spoken William Taylor III. “I can’t tell you I’m happy my client has to pay $75 million.” But, he adds, “the firm will survive. Its lawyers can practice law. … It will be tight [financially] but they have a platform that is well-established [and] they’re very good at what they do.”
