Opinion ID: 2995336
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Staffing of the Brouwer Case

Text: Meanwhile, Bilow’s primary responsibility since 1992 had been a large class action lawsuit filed in Indianapolis that was expected to earn a multi-million dollar contingent fee for the firm. The case, Brouwer v. Rochwarger, required the class to prove a complex RICO conspiracy among several ac counting firms, lawyers, and brokerage firms. Christopher Stuart, an associate at the firm, had been assisting Bilow with the litigation. By the end of 1997, Bilow had billed almost 6,000 hours and Stuart had billed over 5,300 hours to the Brouwer case. In total, the firm had invested approximately $3 million of attorney time in the case but had recovered only about $800,000 in fees after settling with some of the defendants. As the May 1998 trial date approached, the firm’s Management Committee became concerned about the likelihood of recovering even a portion of its expenses. The Committee scheduled a meeting with Michael Freed, the head of the firm’s litigation department, to discuss the possibility of taking Stuart off the case. Freed told the Committee that he believed Bilow, along with local Indianapolis counsel, Hugh Baker, could adequately try the case alone. Freed based his opinion on several factors: most of the named defendants had settled or had been dismissed; the potential recovery against one of the defendants was minimal and did not warrant any more attorney time; he respected Baker’s experience as a seasoned trial lawyer; and he had confidence in Bilow’s ability as a litigator. On February 26, 1998, in a memo to Bilow, the Committee announced that, when the trial began, she and Baker would litigate the case by themselves in Indianapolis, although Stuart and others would be available in Chicago to provide assistance. On March 10, 1998, Bilow met with Shelist and voiced her concerns about trying the Brouwer case with only Baker’s help. Bilow believed that the case involved complex legal issues and she did not believe Baker to be up to the job. Bilow also informed Shelist that she would not be able to spend each night of the anticipated month-long trial in Indianapolis because her husband worked nights and she did not have alternate child care arrangements. Bilow suggested that she could commute daily to Indianapolis, and although the flight would not arrive in time for the morning session of trial, the Brouwer judge would not object to her being late every day. Shelist refused to permit her proposed commuting arrangement, and he also refused to assign anyone else to help her litigate the case. Bilow and the firm came to an impasse on the matter: her position was that Shelist was asking her to do the impossible, and that, even if the firm were to fire her, she could not stay in Indianapolis during the trial. She believed that the firm was responsible for arranging child care for its lawyers; the firm disagreed. The May trial date was ultimately continued, but Shelist reported the events of the meeting to the Management Committee, which shared Shelist’s view that Bilow was being insubordinate. The Committeeinstructed Shelist to prepare a memo recording the events of the meeting and the circumstances of the conflict, which he did on April 30, 1998, almost two months after the meeting. (April 30, 1998 also happened to be the day after Bilow wrote the letter to the firm threatening criminal liability if it failed to compensate her for the past gross-up amounts.)