In yet another indictment, both literally and figuratively, of the legal profession Attorney Mel Weiss, one of the pioneers of class action litigation and legal practice, pled guilty last week to charges that his firm had for years been paying illegal kickbacks to lead plaintiffs in class action cases.  Additional charges related to attempting to cover up the payments to investigators also hung over his head and he now joins his former associate William Lerach and "The King of Torts" Dickie Scruggs as three of the most shameful cases of trial lawyer malfeasance.

In today's Speaking of Justice, Scott Drake and Jan Schlichtmann discuss the career of Mel Weiss, who truly was one of the pioneers of mass tort litigation and for decades was at the pinnacle of his profession. Much like Eliot Spitzer, the class action attorney's took on Wall Street and over the years the enmity between the CEO's and shareholders of big public companies and the mass tort bar was ongoing.

Take a few minutes and listen in to this analysis of the fall of Mel Weiss and the lessons it holds for trial lawyers nationally in this edition of Speaking of Justice.  

What is going on, what has been going on, that drives these men of extreme talent and ability to make such fundamentally flaw decisions and destroy their reputations and legal practices. Jan discusses what might drive these prominent lawyers to this destructive end and how attorney's must be vigilant to constantly look in the mirror and determine if they are serving their clients, or if their practices as designed to serve themselves instead.