*Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP was the self-proclaimed “Fastest Growing Law Firm in the History of the World.” The firm is in the midst of an epic implosion; around 60 attorneys have left in several months, only a few remain. A recent report says the firm has a shocking “estimated $65 million debt” – accumulated in just one year – to litigation funder Virage Capital Management.
Don Lewis, a double Harvard graduate, was a partner at the firm. He says he blew the whistle on financial misconduct and firm founder John Mark Pierce, who along with Lewis’s former partners, Putney Twombly (Michael D. Yim) and Littler Mendelson (S. Jeanine Conley) weaponized #Me Too in a concerted attack to discredit Lewis.
Lewis says: “First they tried to silence me, when that didn’t work, they defamed me in one of the most heinous ways imaginable. The objective was to humiliate and demonize me to undermine my credibility.”
Lewis added: “S. Jeanine Conley asked me to withdraw a complaint thirty minutes after it was filed. I did, she thanked me – in writing – for doing so. Hours later her clients said I filed and withdrew my complaint as ‘part of a scheme to extort,’ and relied on this to defame me and pursue (a since dismissed) bogus claim for civil extortion. Conley has stood by this for a year. And, incredibly, her own counsel somehow tried to shift blame on me because Conley’s own deceitful actions have ‘caused no manner of trouble’ with her application to the South Carolina Bar.”
The son of a Jamaican mother and a Jewish father from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Lewis has persevered and spoke truth to power. The attempted alleged scheme to defame has blown up in Pierce Bainbridge’s face.
Lewis filed a complaint in May 2019 which now appears to be prophetic:
- “[Pierce Bainbridge] was essentially “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” — Don Lewis, May 16, 2019
- “[John] Pierce is a fraud and a con man, lying to his partners, lying to the press, lying to his clients and lying to investors.” — Don LewisComplaint, May 16, 2019.
- “[John] Pierce. . .has scammed the litigation finance industry through massive deceit.”– Don LewisComplaint, May 16, 2019.
Lewis says in addition to the obscene $65 million debt, Pierce also recently secured around $1 million in cash advances against future firm receivables; an alleged failure to fulfill around $500,000 in related payment obligations has resulted in three lawsuits by cash advance lenders. Incredibly, there is more. Pierce was reportedly placed on a forced leave of absence in February for securing a payday loan.
Lewis, Pierce’s Class of 2000 Harvard Law School classmate, said: “Pierce Bainbridge and its legal representatives said my allegations were ‘preposterous,’ ‘farfetched,’ ‘manufactured,’ ‘patently false’ and more. It was part and parcel with their orchestrated smear campaign. As usual, they were lying, my allegations have proven to be right on the money.” Indeed, the payday loan and cash advances fall directly in line with another of Lewis’s allegations:
- “[Pierce] . . . asked if [Lewis] knew any loan sharks. . . [Lewis] chalked this up to Pierce being a sad, shell of himself. . . trying desperately to keep the massive house of Pierce Bainbridge cards from crashing down all around him.” — Don Lewis Complaint, May 16, 2019
According to the ex-partner, Pierce Bainbridge clientele heightens suspicions; it includes: Rudy Giuliani, George Papadopoulos (convicted felon), Michael Avenatti (convicted felon), Lenny Dykstra (convicted felon) and a Russian Oligarch.
Lewis says “no reasonable person could believe that Pierce was a loan wolf.” Law firms have committees, checks and balances, access to books and records, and Lewis’s May 2019 complaint “provided a road map of the fairly simple financial scheme.” Lewis added, “the notion that the firm could accumulate a $65 million debt, with attorneys leaving in droves and no one noticing something was amiss, is ridiculous.”
Lewis says his long-time ice hockey teammate and former partner, Christopher N. LaVigne (Withers Bergman), is the “epitome of corporate greed run amok.” In the Fall of 2018, LaVigne pilloried Pierce for dishonesty, disloyalty and substance abuse, while adding Pierce should be “reported.” When Lewis told LaVigne that Pierce had siphoned $200,000 from firm accounts – while the firm was struggling to make payroll – LaVigne responded: “You need to download all this stuff to a hard drive and give it to a lawyer. Very serious about that.” All of this is in writing.
Lewis added: “Chris was of the clear opinion that John Pierce is a ‘backstabbing,’ con man, yet he lied under oath to smear me and to protect the illicit financial activity from which he continued to be handsomely paid. Chris is a quintessential sell out.”
Denver G. Edwards, a member of the Middlebury College Board of Trustees, also lied under oath, according to Lewis. The timing of the alleged lies for both – shortly after a $28.5 million Virage infusion – raises additional red flags.
The Pierce Bainbridge saga has far surpassed the “truth is stranger than fiction” stage and is now into the land of the “downright bizarre.” The words of a long-time attorney for Oscar De La Hoya appear increasingly prescient. The attorney warned Pierce in Fall 2018 about growing too fast and “ending up in jail.”
Lewis remarked about his former partners: “Not one of them has stood up while I’ve been heinously and relentlessly attacked for over a year. Quite frankly, they all sold out; they put a price on their integrity. It is shameful.”
He concluded: “I’m fortunate to have the wherewithal and support to fight back. While this is all immensely personal, I hope my fight, and exposure of this collective corruption serves as an inspiration to others similarly wronged by the gang mentality of greedy, corporate shills.”
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Lewis’s former partners are Andrew Lorin, Amman Khan, Caroline Polisi (Armstrong Teasedale), Carolynn K. Beck (Goldstein & McClintock), Conor McDonough (n/a), Christopher N. LaVigne (Withers Bergman), Craig Bolton (Goldstein & McClintock), David Hecht (Hecht Partners), Douglas Curran (BraunHagey & Borden), Eric Creizman (Armstrong Teasdedale), James D. Bainbridge, Jonathan Sorkowitz (The Law Offices of Jonathan Sorkowitz), Maxim Price (n/a), Melissa Madrigal (Armstrong Teasedale), Michael Pomerantz (n/a) and Patrick Bradford (n/a).
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