Professor Howard Erichson was quoted in a Wall Street Pro Bankruptcy article on the conflict of interest in law firm Weil Gotshal’s representation of Insys Therapeutics Inc. and its executives in multiple lawsuits.
While one team of lawyers at Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP was guiding opioid maker Insys Therapeutics Inc. through a thicket of legal and financial troubles, others at the firm were defending a former Insys sales director against federal racketeering charges in Boston.
Now Insys is in bankruptcy, former sales chief Richard Simon has been convicted, and Weil Gotshal is still representing both the company, which helped to get Mr. Simon convicted, and Mr. Simon, who is trying to win a post-trial acquittal.
The clash of interests in Weil Gotshal’s dual roles at Insys illustrates one of the ramifications of the concentration of power in the hands of a relatively small group of large law firms that dominate the lucrative market of advising companies in trouble.
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Fordham University School of Law Professor Howard Erichson said ethics rules allowing a lawyer to represent an organization and its employees require that other rules about conflicts of interest be heeded. If one client is cooperating with the government, and the other isn’t, “you would never call that not a conflict of interest,” he said.