A Manhattan judge has ruled that a law firm accused of legal malpractice over advice it gave clients on mutual fund “late trading” can seek discovery from two other law firms, one of which is now representing the same clients in ongoing government investigations of late trading.
Supreme Court Justice Rolando Acosta ordered LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae and Seward & Kissel to turn over documents to DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary on the grounds that their clients’ malpractice suit against DLA Piper had also placed the other two firms’ representations at issue.
“Here, since plaintiffs claim that their problems were caused by the actions or inactions of defendants, any legal advice they received from any other lawyer … on any subject related to the reasonableness of their reliance on defendants’ advice is not subject to the attorney-client privilege,” Justice Acosta wrote in Goldberg v. Hirschberg, 113217/05.
