Robert Powell, who was disbarred for his role in the "kids for cash" scandal, is said by Seyfarth Shaw to have given bad advice to a principal of its client in a bankruptcy case. AP Photo/The Citizens' Voice, Mark Moran

Seyfarth Shaw has hit back against a former client who sued the firm for legal malpractice, arguing the client's principal is to blame for her losses because she was secretly taking advice from Robert Powell, a disbarred Pennsylvania lawyer who pleaded guilty in 2009 to siphoning $2.8 million in kickbacks to former Luzerne County Judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr.

Seyfarth represented Blue Dog at 399 Inc. in a suit against its landlord. Ultimately, after Seyfarth withdrew, Blue Dog alleged in a malpractice suit that the law firm failed to file expert reports and complete discovery in a timely manner, leading key evidence to be excluded.

The law firm recently lost its request to dismiss Blue Dog's $157 million malpractice claim. But in a new complaint filed Friday in Blue Dog's bankruptcy case in Manhattan, the firm accused Blue Dog principal Elizabeth Slavutsky of taking bad advice from Powell, whose company D&D Funding II LLC had lent Blue Dog money.

Powell was sentenced in 2011 to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay a $60,000 fine for his role in the so-called "kids-for-cash" scandal in Luzerne County. Conahan and Ciavarella were sentenced to prison for accepting benefits from Powell in exchange for sending a steady stream of juvenile defendants to two detention centers that Powell had a stake in, ignoring the minor defendants' civil rights in the process. Powell pleaded guilty to non-bribery offenses for his role in the scheme.

"Upon information and belief, at all times relevant herein, Powell performed services … and was an advisor to and a representative of [Blue Dog]," Seyfarth said in Friday court filings. "Upon information and belief, Powell served an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2009 to felony counts of failing to report a felony and being an accessory to a conspiracy to commit income tax evasion."

While Seyfarth doesn't say Slavutsky committed wrongdoing by working with Powell and his company, it says she still hasn't paid more than $713,000 in legal fees she was supposed to pay on Blue Dog's behalf. Seyfarth's complaint also included a contribution claim against Slavutsky, Powell and D&D, alleging that they derailed a good settlement that Seyfarth had helped negotiate with Blue Dog's landlord.

Seyfarth argued that the malpractice claims against it should eventually be dismissed, but said that if they aren't, Slavutsky, Powell and D&D—which last year bought majority control of the restaurant company from Slavutsky—should be liable to the extent they are at fault for the malpractice.

According to Seyfarth's complaint in the Southern District of New York bankruptcy court, Slavutsky turned to D&D to provide funds for Blue Dog's dispute with its landlord. At the 2017 mediation where Seyfarth helped her notch a settlement that would allow the restaurant to open, the law firm said, she called Powell to make sure the settlement was OK.

Seyfarth alleges that Powell subsequently advised Slavutsky to renege on the settlement, hire new lawyers and strike a worse deal because it was in his and D&D's interest to do so.

It's not clear how Seyfarth determined that the Powell who has signed off on court papers as a representative of D&D is the same man who was implicated in the Luzerne County scandal. Joel Haims of Morrison & Foerster, who represents Seyfarth, declined to comment.

Lawyers listed in court records for Blue Dog and D&D, Slavutsky and an agent for D&D didn't immediately respond to comment requests. Powell could not be reached for comment.