US class action leader Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach has officially announced its high profile split after months of wrangling to create two new plaintiff firms. The arrangement will see the bulk of the firm's East Coast practice form 41-partner Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman. The West Coast arm of the legacy firm, under the lead of William Lerach, has become a 51-partner practice named Lerach Coughlin Stoia & Robbins.