The American Lawyer - February 2008

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general Craig Morford (now the acting deputy attorney general), who led the review, agreed to a defense request to abandon the terrorism portion of the case.

Convertino complains about both the conclusions and the way the investigation was conducted. “Out of fundamental fairness, there should have been an evidentiary hearing,” says Convertino. “I was a rogue prosecutor from then on.”

Then came the indictment. In March 2006 the government charged Convertino with conspiracy to withhold evidence. (His alleged coconspirator was a U.S. Department of State official who testified at the terrorism trial.) The government’s case hinged on photographs of a military hospital in Jordan taken by government agents. The government argued that the photos, which could have discredited Convertino’s interpretation of the sketches found in the Dearborn raid, should have been given to the defense, and that Convertino’s failure to do so was obstruction of justice.

Convertino, who resigned from the Justice Department in 2005, turned to his old friend and former

colleague William Sullivan, Jr., at Winston & Strawn, who defended him free of charge. At trial, Sullivan contrasted the prosecution of the defendants in the terrorism case (which he called “responsible”) with the prosecution of Convertino (“irresponsible”). Sullivan says he has never found another case of a prosecutor who was indicted for a discovery violation.

Sullivan’s arguments convinced the jury, which returned a not-guilty verdict for Convertino and his codefendant last fall.

Convertino can now move forward with his suit against the government, which had been held up during the criminal proceeding. Stephen Kohn, Convertino’s lawyer in that case, says he will soon be filing a motion to compel the Detroit Free Press reporter to reveal his sources.

Convertino’s suit may bring closure to his story, but it won’t be a Hollywood ending. The story is more art-house. The screen darkens and the movie ends, but the audience is left scratching its heads, wondering what happened.

E-mail: alongstreth@alm.com.

EVAN DAVIS OF CLEARY GOTTLIEB STEEN & HAMILTON for the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, in a dispute about two paintings by Pablo Picasso. The plaintiff is a German, Julius Schoeps, whose great-uncle owned the paintings when Adolf Hitler came to power. Schoeps says that his great-uncle had to sell under duress, and that as heir, he is the rightful owner. Schoeps is represented by John Byrne, Jr., of Byrne Goldenberg & Hamilton. The two paintings, Le Moulin de la Galette, done in 1900, and Boy Leading a Horse, from 1906, have been hanging in the Guggenheim and MoMA, respectively, for 40 years.

assemble corporate partners, litigators, and academics to assess a company’s options.

That idea couldn’t be implemented at Weil because of internal opposition. There was concern that bankruptcy lawyers would scare corporate clients away, according to Bienenstock. But at Dewey & LeBoeuf, “The concept of marrying [the practice of] corporate governance with [bankruptcy] was warmly received,” says Bienenstock.

It’s a sentiment echoed by another former Weil partner, who says the firm is “locked in a time warp.” While firms like Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Kirkland & Ellis have positioned their bankruptcy departments to fit with their litigation and corporate departments, Weil’s group

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has remained more isolated, he says. According to this lawyer, Weil’s corporate department has resisted integration with the firm’s bankruptcy department, which has long been supreme at the firm. Some corporate partners saw integration as a threat to their own practice.

Thomas Roberts, cochair of Weil’s corporate department,

says the firm’s model allows for partners from the various practice groups to work together when the need arises. The firm simply doesn’t need to market itself any differently. “If I’m going to see a healthy company, I don’t need to take a bankruptcy lawyer with me,” says Roberts.

Bienenstock is taking with him veteran partner Judy Liu and associate Timothy Karcher, who joined Dewey as a partner. Their departure comes on the heels of the departure of four other prominent Weil partners— George Davis, Deryck Palmer, John Rapisardi, and Andrew Troop—who were lured by Cad-

walader, Wickersham & Taft last spring. The previous year, Paul Basta, another young talented partner, left for Kirkland & Ellis.

Marcia Goldstein, who was previously cochair with Bienenstock and who will now run the practice solo, still has a large group to lead at Weil. The firm’s Web site lists 26 partners in the group, including Harvey Miller, who retuned last year. Weil chairman Stephen Dannhauser calls it the best bankruptcy group around, and he’s not about to mess with a winning formula. “Folks would like to run their own show, but that’s not always going to happen here,” says Dannhauser.