SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close Q&A: Diane Bell talks to Bill Lerach Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 12:02 a.m. Earnie Grafton Bill Lerach said he has been given an opportunity to take his life in a new direction. WILLIAM âBILLâ LERACH Former San Diego attorney with the Milberg Weiss law firm. Born: 1946 in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he was raised in a middle-class neighborhood on the north side. Education: Public schools followed by University of Pittsburgh and its School of Law. Hobbies: Fishing, gardening, reading and collecting tribal art. Family: Wife, Michelle, is an attorney who recently opened a cupcake shop in La Jolla; two adult daughters; a son, 15. Bill Lerach built his reputation as an attorney by filing lawsuits, primarily shareholder class actions, against large corporations, banks and accounting firms for alleged fraudulent practices. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy stemming from kickbacks to plaintiffs in his lawsuits and obstruction of justice. In May 2008, he began a two-year prison sentence. He was released in March, two months early for good service. QUESTION: How would you describe your incarceration? ANSWER: Both uneventful and yet eye-opening. I met many very interesting people â decent people who have gotten themselves in trouble as I did; heard many heartbreaking stories of families and lives destroyed. To occupy myself, I wrote a detailed newsletter sent out to about 250 friends describing my daily experiences. To my surprise, it was much enjoyed by all â certainly more than I enjoyed the actual experience. I also spent a lot of time reading, even reading large parts of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Pretty much I made good use of my time and didnât suffer from boredom â more loneliness from missing my family, my dogs and my friends. QUESTION: Are there any positive things that came out of your time in prison? ANSWER: It forced me to get off a very fast-moving treadmill on which I probably would have continued indefinitely. These events have given me an opportunity to take my life in a new and, I hope, fulfilling direction. QUESTION: So frequent and formidable were Bill Lerach lawsuits that corporate leaders coined a phrase, âgetting Lerached.â In hindsight, how do you feel about these lawsuits? Did they all have merit? ANSWER: I am very proud of the work we did representing people who were taken advantage of by rich and powerful interests. We recovered substantial sums for these people and, more importantly, gave them a sense that someone in the legal system cared about them. We demonstrated to very powerful interests that there were lawyers in the system who would stand up to them and call them to account. We also tried to represent other victims of wrongdoing â Holocaust victims, victims of slave-labor conditions in the U.S. Mariana Islands and workers whose organizational rights were violated. QUESTION: How many lawsuits have you personally filed in your legal career, and what was the total dollar figure in settlements or court awards? ANSWER: Over the 30 years, I filed and oversaw hundreds of lawsuits all over the United States in both federal and state courts. The recoveries exceeded $30 billion for the people we represented. In addition, in many of our stockholder lawsuits we were able to achieve important corporate governance changes at public corporations which increased the power of shareholders and the accountability of officers and directors. QUESTION: Were you fairly treated by the justice system? ANSWER: Anyone subjected to a criminal prosecution will think that things could or should have been handled differently. But I felt that the prosecutors had always treated us with a great deal of respect. We obviously disagreed with their review of the criminality of the conduct at issue, but I canât say the system treated me unfairly. QUESTION: Looking back, what would you have done differently? ANSWER: While it may bother some people for me to say it, I would not have done anything differently. The practice of sharing a part of the legal fees with the class representatives in successful class-action lawsuits predated my entry into that field. But we were wrong to think the ends justified the means. Even though bad practices may have been engaged in, the lawsuits themselves were meritorious and on behalf of real victims. Iâm proud of the work we did even if Iâm not proud of some of the practices that were engaged in. QUESTION: Will you try to get your law license back and practice law again? ANSWER: No. I had a wonderful legal career for a great many years, and itâs time now to move on to something different where I hope I can still make some positive contribution. I plan to teach at the University of California Law School at Irvine beginning in early 2011. I am designing a new course entitled, âRegulation of Free Market Capitalism â Why Have We Failed?â I expect to be lecturing at other law schools and participating in the ongoing debate about the need for better and more effective financial regulation and protection of investors. I also intend to be active in progressive political activities probably with the Campaign for Americaâs Future. QUESTION: Part of your sentence includes 1,000 hours of community service. What will you do to satisfy this obligation? ANSWER: Iâm doing several things, including working with an organization for disabled veterans, a German shepherd adoption program, and I hope that my work with law school teaching will be treated as community service. QUESTION: What is your review of the book just published about your life: âCircle of Greed: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Lawyer Who Brought Corporate America to its Knees?â ANSWER: The book is very tough on me, and it certainly exposes a lot of my faults and mistakes. I guess we all wish we were perfect but we are not, and when you have two very good investigative reporters comb through 35 years, it comes out with some blemishes for sure. On the other hand, the book presents how hard my law firm worked on behalf of our clients and how much we achieved against extremely powerful and influential interests. So, I canât complain about the way the book came out even if I might want to change some things. QUESTION: The Wall Street Journal says many honest companies became victims of your legal challenges. How do you respond to this? Do you have any apologies to offer anyone? ANSWER: I have no respect for The Wall Street Journal editorial page, although I love the newspaper, as it is a biased and one-sided mouthpiece for corporate America. In over 35 years of suing the most powerful companies in America, no judge ever sanctioned us for bringing a frivolous lawsuit. I probably owe plenty of people apologies, but I sure donât owe The Wall Street Journal any apology now or ever. This is part of a series of occasional Q&As that columnist Diane Bell conducts with newsmakers. If you have suggestions of people you would like her to interview, e-mail her at diane.bell@uniontrib.com. 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