Legal News

Judge Halts Allen Stanford?s Revolving Door of Lawyers

By Ashby Jones

“I feel great, just like I did after my first divorce.”

– Houston lawyer Kent Schaffer, after he and George “Mac” Secrest were replaced on Tuesday as lead criminal defense counsel for jailed financier Allen Stanford.

We told you last week that Stanford was looking to make, yes, yet another lawyer change. And on Tuesday it was approved by Houston federal judge David Hittner. Longtime Houston criminal defense lawyer Michael Essmeyer will take the reins from Schaffer and Secrest, who had been working with Stanford for less than a year. Click here for Mary Flood’s article in the Houston Chronicle; here for the Bloomberg story.

Other lawyers to have done a little time with Stanford include: Mike Sokolow, Dick DeGuerin, and Bob Luskin. According to the Chron, Stanford has asked for 11 different lawyers.

Essmeyer said that much of the problem had to do with Stanford’s ability to pay his fees. That’s been an issue in the case since the SEC first froze Stanford’s assets early last year. But on Tuesday, Judge Hittner asked Essmyer and Bennett to promise to stay on the case as appointed lawyers if the insurance money runs out.

That said, it also seems fairly clear that Stanford had differences of opinion with Secrest and Schaffer.

Schaffer, outside the courtroom, on Tuesday told reporters that, as the above quote indicates, he's pleased to be out of the case, saying he wasn't interested in working with a client who wanted to "dictate how things proceed."

Referring to a charged exchange between Hittner and Stanford during the hearing, Schaffer added: "I think Judge Hittner got a good picture today of what we've been dealing with.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 06, 2010 (boomark / email).