Legal News

Former Broadcom CFO wants "ethical misconduct" finding sustained against I&M

By Richard Binder

The former chief financial officer of Broadcom Corp. has urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to sustain a lower court that blasted Los Angeles-based Irell & Manella for "ethical misconduct" in a criminal backdating case.

In April, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney of the Central District of California issued a written order finding that Irell & Manella, which had represented William Ruehle in related civil actions involving stock options backdating, failed to warn him of a potential conflict inherent in representing both him and Broadcom at the same time. In 2006, two Irell & Manella attorneys interviewed Ruehle while the firm was representing Broadcom in its internal investigation of stock options backdating.

On appeal before the 9th Circuit, federal prosecutors argued that Ruehle was aware that information from the 2006 conversation with Irell & Manella would be turned over to Ernst & Young, Broadcom's outside auditor, as part of the internal investigation. Furthermore, Irell's lawyers had given Ruehle an "Upjohn warning" informing him that the conversation was privileged as to Broadcom and the audit committee, but not to him personally. As a result, Ruehle could not have "reasonably believed" that Irell & Manella was representing him individually, according to their brief.

Full story at NLJ.com.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on July 21, 2009 (boomark / email).