Milberg’s Partner Flight Continues

With a much-discussed merger deal with Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein on shaky footing, Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman is seeing a slow, steady parade of partner departures. The most recent is William Fredericks, a New York-based partner who’s joining rival Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann.

“We’re thankful to have a partner of Bill’s background and experience on the Bernstein Litowitz team,” Bernstein partner John “Sean” Coffey said Monday. Fredericks isn’t the only one: The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reported Monday that another partner, Christopher Jones, has left the firm to join Saxena White, a Florida firm formed recently by two other lawyers who left Milberg after it was indicted May on charges of paying kickbacks to plaintiffs. The blog also reported that the firm’s Delaware and Boca Raton offices seem to be winding down operations.

Strangely, though, no one’s saying anything about Milberg partner Daniel Scotti. As far as we can tell, he hasn’t announced his departure, nor has he said he’s joining another firm. But he’s mysteriously disappeared from the Milberg Weiss Web site.

No one but Melvyn Weiss, the firm’s managing partner, that is. Late Monday, Weiss didn’t want to talk about Frederecks’ departure, but he did say that Scotti is on his way out, and may be leaving law altogether. “He’s deciding what he wants to do with his life, but he’s staying on to work out the cases he’s heavily involved in,” Weiss said.

— Justin Scheck