How many lawyers does it take to represent the former chief executive of the American International Group?
This is not a joke. Maurice R. Greenberg -- who was forced out of A.I.G. in March and faces a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general, as well as other regulatory investigations and possible shareholder lawsuits -- already has three very expensive lawyers leading his team.
There is David Boies, the legal world's equivalent of a rock star, prosecutor of Microsoft and champion of Al Gore after the contested election in 2000 ; Robert G. Morvillo, veteran of the criminal defense bar and recently the defender of Martha Stewart; and Kenneth J. Bialkin, a lower-profile corporate lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom who has known Mr. Greenberg for years and has decades of experience.
The three men on Mr. Greenberg's defense team say they are all working well together and have a collegial relationship. They confer regularly by telephone conference call and by e-mail to divide up tasks. Mr. Morvillo, whom Mr. Greenberg retained first, is the acknowledged expert on criminal law. Mr. Boies has been the most public face of the team, writing letters to editors, for example.
The team keeps a war room, well equipped with laptop computers, telephones and printers, in the Manhattan office of Mr. Boies's firm, Boies, Schiller & Flexner, according to Mr. Boies's partner, Lee S. Wolosky. At any given time during the day -- and sometimes well into the night -- as many as a dozen lawyers and support staff members are at work there. This may sound like enough legal firepower, perhaps even too much to manage. But the matter is more complicated than that, and it is not just that so many people are interested in Mr. Greenberg.
Mr. Boies and his firm are also representing two private companies long associated with A.I.G. and run by Mr. Greenberg. The interests of those two companies may not always line up with those of Mr. Greenberg -- which means that maybe there should be yet more lawyers involved.
Part of the problem is that Mr. Greenberg was a classic imperial chief executive who wore several hats at A.I.G.; he now has to cope with potential investigations of each of his multiple roles. While no longer running A.I.G., Mr. Greenberg is the chairman of Starr International, which runs the company's long-term compensation program, and he is the chief executive of C.V. Starr, a holding company for a handful of insurers.
''The question that comes to my mind is to what degree do these two companies benefit from sharing a lawyer with Greenberg, as opposed to getting independent advice from a disinterested lawyer,'' said Kathleen Clark, a law professor who teaches ethics at Washington University in St. Louis. ''I'm not saying that they've acted improperly by hiring Boies; I don't know that they have. The question is whether they are getting disinterested advice.''
| • | When just one heavy hitter just isn't enough
LEGAL BEAT The New York Times, Friday, May 27, 2005 Byline: Jonathan D. Glater |
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