(Credit: Kittiphan/Adobe Stock) 'We Need to Do a Much Better Job': Lewis Brisbois Held Onto Millions in Old Client Funds, Internal Memo Says
The details in an April 2023 memo to the firm's management committee echoed allegations from a recent lawsuit and a 2019 letter to California state labor authorities.
June 25, 2024 at 02:33 PM
7 minute read
What You Need to Know
- Last spring, Lewis Brisbois' management committee was alerted to millions in duplicate payments and retainers from clients that were more than a year old.
- Internal reporting from last year echoed similar concerns about the firm's billing practices that surfaced in a 2019 letter to California state authorities by a former executive and a more recent lawsuit by a former partner.
- Firm leaders have made several administrative changes in the last year, including installing a new firm management software and interim C-level appointments.
Four years after a former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith executive alleged financial mismanagement at the firm to California state authorities, the firm's leaders were alerted to millions in unreturned client payments that were more than a year old, according to an internal report reviewed by The American Lawyer.
The report, which a practice leader sent to the firm's management committee in April 2023, identified $5.6 million as duplicate payments and $9.5 million as client retainer funds. Of those amounts, $3.3 million in duplicate payments and $4.4 million in retainers were identified as more than a year old. Another $10.2 million was identified as "unapplied funds" older than one year.
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