Harvey Weinstein's Wild Weekend Involved Plenty of Lawyers
The disgraced film studio mogul abrupt resignation from his namesake company came after its board of directors hired Debevoise & Plimpton and a member of his legal team stepped down.
October 09, 2017 at 02:37 PM
3 minute read
Resignations, terminations and even a hiring took place at a rapid pace over the weekend for several lawyers caught up in the controversy emanating from Harvey Weinstein's alleged actions in Hollywood and elsewhere.
The stage was set on Oct. 5 when The New York Times published a report claiming that Weinstein, an Academy Award-winning film producer, had for decades pursued sexual favors from young women who came in contact with him, hoping to advance their movie careers.
According to the Times, Weinstein reached settlements with women who attempted to hold him accountable for his behavior. In exchange for the payouts, he had the women sign nondisclosure agreements. Weinstein has denied the allegations put forth in the report and threatened through one of his lawyers, Charles Harder of Beverly Hills-based Harder Mirell & Abrams, threatened to sue the newspaper for $50 million in damages.
Lisa Bloom, a high-profile plaintiffs lawyer and women's rights advocate who has previously represented sexual harassment victims, defended Weinstein in the newspaper's report and another published late last week by The American Lawyer. Bloom had joined a powerhouse legal team representing Weinstein that includes Harder and Boies Schiller Flexner chairman David Boies, a longtime adviser to the film executive and his namesake company.
But by Saturday, Bloom tweeted and told reporters that she had resigned from her role as Weinstein's so-called feminist adviser. In the interim, critics, including her mother, attorney Gloria Allred, pounced on Bloom, who also had made a deal with The Weinstein Co. LLC to have a book she wrote serve as the narrative behind a future film. The Times reported that board members at The Weinstein Co. had also criticized Bloom's role.
One board member, Lance Maerov, in an email obtained by the Times, wrote that Bloom was “fanning the flames and compounding the problem,” and asked that she step away from her representation of Weinstein.
The Weinstein Co. has since confirmed that it hired Debevoise & Plimpton litigation co-chair John Kiernan in New York to conduct an internal investigation into the allegations against Weinstein. Three board members—Marc Lasry, Tim Sarnoff and Dirk Ziff—have resigned from the New York-based company, one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America, since The Times' first story was published last week. (Lasry, who began his career at New York bankruptcy boutique Angel & Frankel before starting his own hedge fund, paid $550 million in 2014 to buy the National Basketball Association's Milwaukee Bucks.)
By Sunday night, The Weinstein Co.'s four remaining board members, including Weinstein's brother, Robert Weinstein, had chosen to terminate him, according to multiple news reports. Lanny Davis, a former White House special counsel and partner at several Am Law 100 firms, had also resigned from Weinstein's legal team.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllLatham Departures Continue as Capital Markets Partner Joins Greenberg Traurig
2 minute readCravath Elevates 7 to Partnership, Up From Last Year
Trending Stories
- 1The Importance of Plaintiffs Not Letting Defendants Dictate Settlement Tax Strategies
- 2A New State Law Is a Positive Step Forward for Judicial Security in Pennsylvania—But More Action Is Needed
- 3Does the FAAAA Preempt State Negligence Claims Against Freight Brokers?
- 4People in the News—Nov. 14, 2024—Cummins, McNees
- 5County Reps: Appeal Likely Following State Court's Sales Tax Ruling for Retail Marijuana
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250