Initially announced last June, the breakup of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, widely recognized as the leading plaintiffs’ securities class action firm, is finally complete. With little fanfare, the firm has split as of May 1 into Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP (headquartered in New York) and Lerach Coughlin Stoia & Robbins LLP (headquartered in San Diego).
Although the split generally follows geographical lines, it will not stay that way for long. An article in today’s Financial Times states that one of the name partners of Lerach Coughlin sees “the new firm growing to more than 150 lawyers by the end of the year and opening new offices in New York, Florida, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.” Indeed, the websites already show both firms as having offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. (but only Lerach Coughlin has attorneys listed in those locations).
Addition: The new firms have issued a joint statement. Of course, they also have separate thoughts on the matter (click here for Lerach Coughlin’s press release).
The 10b-5 Daily 