Legal News

Christensen tries to have potential witness as lead defense counsel

By Jason Siegel

­ Terry Christensen, the only lawyer indicted in the criminal probe of celebrity sleuth Anthony Pellicano, has sought to replace his lead defense counsel, Dan Webb, with his fellow law firm partner, Patty Glaser, according to court papers filed on Wednesday.

In response, federal prosecutors filed a motion on the same day to disqualify Glaser from the case because, among other things, she agreed to testify as a potential witness after receiving a government subpoena on Jan. 25.

Trial in the case is set for Feb. 27. Christensen, managing partner of Los Angeles-based Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro, is accused of paying Pellicano more than $100,000 to wiretap the phone of Lisa Bonder Kerkorian, the ex-wife of his client, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, during a high-profile paternity dispute in 2002.

In recent weeks, Christensen had sought to stay the trial, in part because Webb no longer could represent him due to a scheduling conflict with another case that is expected to go to trial in March. That case involves three men who were indicted on bribery charges for paying off officials in Azerbaijan during the privatization of the country's state-owned oil company.

Webb represents one of the defendants, Frederic Bourke. On Jan. 28, U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer, for the Central District of California, rejected Christensen's request for the stay. In court papers, prosecutors claim that hiring Glaser, who is a civil litigator, represents a conflict of interest.

"Specifically, two years after assembling his litigation team but a week after when the government served a trial subpoena on his partner, Patricia Glaser, defendant sought to have Glaser added to his litigation team, and therefore set up a barrier that could preclude her from testifying against him in this case," prosecutors said in the filing.

They also claim that her being a partner in the same firm is a conflict. "If Glaser were to represent defendant at trial, her interest in the financial success of the firm could conflict with her duties to defendant," prosecutors claim.

Christensen¹s other lawyers include Terree Bowers and Mary Carter Andrues, both partners in the Los Angeles office of Washington-based Howrey.

Bowers did not return a call for comment.

-- Amanda Bronstad

Also: Christenson fights to hire Glaser, The Recorder

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on February 08, 2008 (boomark / email).