Eversheds pensions head becomes London senior partner

By Julia Berri

Eversheds pensions head Anthony Arter has been named as the firm's next London senior partner.

Anthony Arter

Arter replaces Cornelius Medvei who steps down after three years as senior partner. Arter takes up his post on 1 September and will continue as head of pensions.
Arter said: "London is the flagship for Eversheds' international practice. There've been a lot of changes to the legal world and business world generally.
"Eversheds is in a good position because it's flexible and we can respond well to changes in the market."
Arter added that Eversheds will be focusing on recruitment into core City practice areas such as financial services and private equity.
During his tenure as London senior partner Medvei led the national firm's office move to One Wood Street in the City in May last year.
Eversheds chief executive Bryan Hughes said: "Cornelius is a partner with exceptional vision.
"He's made a significant contribution to the development of our City practice."

Dealmakers of the Week: Charles Randell and John Papanichola of Slaughter and May

Posted by Julie Triedman
Slaughter and May's Charles Randell was by the British government's side when it privatized British Gas in 1986. Earlier this year, he and colleague John Papanichola were tapped by the gas company--now known as Centrica plc--to lead the legal front on a long-running takeover bid for Aberdeen, Scotland-based Venture Production, a North Sea oil and gas producer.
On Monday, six months after it floated a first offer to Venture's management, and just a single working day after European regulatory clearance was granted, Centrica won the takeover battle when it successfully scooped up enough outstanding shares in Venture to declare majority ownership. The remainder of the shares are expected to be tendered to Centrica in the coming days.
Centrica, a gas and electric supply company, set its sights on Venture given that the acquisition would ensure that more than half of the energy Centrica sells comes from its own supplies, rather than from the U.K.'s volatile and illiquid wholesale gas market. If it could get Venture, its energy hedge would close in on 60 percent.
By last winter, Centrica had raised a cash war chest through a rights offering. In March the company decided to approach certain key institutional investors, hoping to convince them to defect and thereby give Centrica a platform from which to launch its bid for Venture. The Slaughter and May team helped Centrica past that first key hurdle, negotiating agreements with two large shareholders for an initial 23.5 percent stake. (The Slaughter team worked side-by-side on the deal with Centrica's general counsel, Grant Dawson.)
Venture rebuffed the offer after a meeting to discuss a negotiated deal, but Centrica was not deterred. The takeover strategy was, in his experience, unique, Randell says (pictured above right). For one, its 845 pence per share offer, it told shareholders, would be its final price unless another company moved into the arena--a deal worth $2.13 billion for all the outstanding shares, and a 45.7 premium over the pre-offer share value. Presenting the offer as final "left a stark choice for shareholders," notes Papanichola, 36. "Either accept the offer or accept Venture's management's promises."
U.K. securities laws prohibit U.S.-style poison pill defenses and so the battle for Venture was to be decided by the choice made by Venture's shareholders.
The key to the attack, say the lawyers, was speed. "Time is generally on the side of the target," says Papanichola (pictured left). In July, Centrica obtained the shares of another major investor, lifting its ownership stake to roughly 29 percent. Under U.K. securities laws, regulatory approvals are required before an acquiror can buy shares that push it over a 30 percent threshold. When a would-be acquiror crosses that threshold, it has to make a so-called mandatory offer, which is conditioned on the acquiror getting to 50 percent.
While the Slaughter team raced to get that clearance (a process that almost always takes 25 business days), Centrica presented Venture shareholders with an official cash offer conditioned on regulatory approval, and collected promises that another 11 percent of shares would be tendered. But Venture's board and its largest shareholder, U.S. investment firm ArcLight Capital Partners, along with U.K. North Sea oil and gas veteran Larry Kinch, wouldn't budge and continued a high-profile appeal to shareholders to reject Centrica's advances.
European Competition Commission regulators greenlighted the deal last Friday, after just 22 days--"record time" according to Papanichola--and three days before the market expected Centrica's final push. At the opening bell of the London Stock Exchange on Monday, Centrica and its bankers waged a "dawn raid," acquiring huge blocks of shares on the open market. The company crossed the 50 percent threshold before noon.
Randell says he hasn't seen a similar dawn raid in the U.K. since Unilever bought tea company Brooke Bond on the open market in 1985. The practice fell out of favor in subsequent years, because institutional investors tended to support incumbent management.
Randell says he won't be surprised to see more large-scale hostile bids of this sort in the near future. "Companies that have got the cash are in a hugely advantageous position," he notes. "If we're going to see successful hostile deals, they're likely to come from strategic buyers like Centrica, with cash in hand."

Famous Jewel and jewelry Cases

by Michael P. Ehline

Famous jewelry heists are the stuff of legends, not to mention movies. The largest heist of diamonds was the 2003 of $100 million theft in Antwerp, Belgium. The thieves turned out to be the gang known as the "School of Turin". One of them was called the "King of Thieves", another one was called
the "Magician with the Keys". The plot played out like a movie, with complex and detailed planning.The "School of Turin" rented the office space adjacent to the Antwerp Diamond Center Building. They bypassed the alarm system. They made fake tapes to play on the surveillance camera system. They somehow had keys they had copied to open the vault.
As amazingly talented as these guys were, they make fatal mistakes. One thief's DNA was extracted from a partially eaten sandwich he had carelessly tossed out with bags used to carry the diamonds. One guy had actually been acting as a diamond merchant at the Center and he left his DNA in the vault. They got into so many deposit boxes and had so many diamonds to carry away that they simply left many boxes unopened and left diamonds scattered around the floor of the vault.Another guy I saw in the news recently in the United States tried to steal a cache of gold chains as well gold bracelet, gold necklace, diamond earrings and so on but he accidentially left his mobile phone at the scene and was tracked that way.

Doughty Street launches in Manchester

By Katy Dowell

Doughty Street Chambers is to set up shop in Manchester after four barristers defected from Garden Court North Chambers to join the civil liberties set.

Chambers director Robin Jackson said the base would provide a platform from which the set will grow.
He added: "Manchester is a strategically important site. Some of our barristers are already doing work in Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool. This will give them a base."
In addition, he said, the set hoped to attract further interest from barristers based in the region.
"It's about looking at the fact that there are practitioners outside London who have accord with our ethos and values," Simpson continued. "Our aim is to promote access to law and civil liberties. Finding the right people means we're able to do that."
The set will open offices in Manchester tomorrow. It will be manned by  four former Garden Court North barristers: Nick Stanage, Paul Draycott, Farrhat Arshad and Erimnaz Mushtaq.
In April, 39 Essex Street announced its Manchester launch.
39 Essex Street chambers director Michael Meeson said the move would accommodate the greater flow of work stemming from outside of London.

Four More Prominent Partners Defect from Cooley

Posted by Brian Baxter

Cooley Godward Kronish is losing four more prominent partners to larger rivals, reports sibling publication The Recorder.

Corporate partners John Brockland and Jane Ross in Palo Alto are leaving the firm for Dewey & LeBoeuf. Both lawyers worked closely with a trio of Cooley lawyers--what many considered the cream of the firm's practice--that defected for Dewey two months ago.

Also leaving Cooley is Craig Waldman, the chair of the firm's antitrust practice in San Francisco, and antitrust partner Michael Knight in Washington, D.C. Both lawyers will be joining Jones Day.

According to Am Law 100 financial data, Jones Day had profits per equity partner of $810,000 in 2008. Dewey's PEP came in at $1.5 million last year, compared with $1.42 million for Cooley. With comparable compensation at Cooley for the Dewey defectors and Jones Day not matching up in the PEP column, what lies beneath the departures?

"[Cooley's] not an international platform," legal recruiter Carl Baier of Baier Legal Search in Silicon Valley told The Recorder. "And I think that has an effect on the people that are defecting."

Waldman seemed to indicate as much when he told The Recorder's Zusha Elinson that while he thinks "very highly of Cooley," the opportunity to join a Jones Day platform with "top-notch antitrust talent in every part of the world" was "too good to pass up."

In late July another corporate partner, James Donato, a former president of the Bar Association of San Francisco, left the firm for Shearman & Sterling.

Shearman Brussels left partnerless by Arnold & Porter hires

Shearman & Sterling's European network has been hit by the defection of two Brussels antitrust partners to Arnold & Porter.

Shearman's Brussels office has been left with no permanent partner presence with Annette Schild and Silvio Cappellari leaving to join Arnold & Porter. Counsel Stephanie Birmann has also joined Arnold & Porter.
Shearman's Brussels office now has just two associates, with competition partner Hans Jurgen Meyer-Lindemann splitting his time between Düsseldorf and Brussels.

A statement issued by the firm said: "Shearman & Sterling plans to maintain its competition law practice in Brussels, with partner Hans Jurgen Meyer-Lindemann covering from Düsseldorf, as he has done in the past, and partner Matthew Reading in London."

The departures come after Shearman's German practice suffered numerous departures. In January last year high-profile M&A star Rolf Koerfer left for Allen & Overy in Düsseldorf.
In April last year the firm's entire 30-lawyer Mannheim office splitting off to for an independent firm.
In September Munich-based partner Gottfried Breuninger, who was Shearman's co-head of tax, left for A&O along with local M&A partner Astrid Krüger.
Schild has played a prominent role in building up Shearman's Brussels office, advising on a number of high profile deals including acting for Siemens on its acquisition of Austrian company VA Tech in 2005.
Cappellari's practice focuses on energy, pharmaceuticals, transport and media industries. He advised CVC Capital Partners in its acquisition of DSI Holding.
Arnold & Porter chairman Clair Thomas Milch said: "Annette, Silvio and Stephanie will strengthen the breadth and depth of our competition practice in Europe for our clients who have complex and demanding international business needs."

Anonymous Lawyer

There's been some news recently about Kate, a 19-year-old heading to law school at Northwestern.

Much of the reaction on the Internet has been negative -- she doesn't have any life experience, she's too young to be deciding she wants to be a lawyer, she'll find it difficult to make friends....

I say good for her, and we'll save a place for her here at the Firm (assuming, of course, we're hiring again by 2012, and that we've already let the classes of 2009-2011 have their start dates). Getting someone in here whose mother is still making her lunch and picking out her clothes means it's like we're getting a free secretary along with her. Hiring someone without previous work experience means she won't realize working 24 hours a day is unusual. And, she's close enough to an age where spanking is appropriate that it'll be much easier for us to throw office supplies at her without getting an earful in return.

It'll also be easier for senior associates to order her around, since they'll actually be older than her, in contrast to the usual awkwardness of having chronological peers as your boss. And since she probably won't have many friends, she'll be fine with working nights and weekends, and won't have any social obligations pulling on her.

The downside is that (at least as a summer associate) she won't be old enough to drink, which means she'll have to find a new vice to take the edge off. I recommend anti-depressants, but that's just me.

We'd go as young as we can find law school graduates. Want to come work here at 13, 14, 15? Great. Young people have energy. They're still optimistic about the world. They adjust to difficult circumstances. They like to please adults. They're not jaded. They don't care about making a difference in the world. They have good computer skills. They take orders. They don't eat as much. They don't need quite so much salary. Better health-- means lower health insurance premiums. They (usually) don't get pregnant. They're good at text-messaging. They (usually) don't have sex with clients.

There are no drawbacks I can think of. We'd even hire an eight-year-old if she could do the work. Which, of course, most eight-years-old can.

Welcome to the firm, Kate!

Cobbetts starts flexi-working in bid to save jobs

Julia Berris

Cobbetts has introduced a four-day week across its transactional practice groups in a bid to avoid making and further job cuts.

Cobbetts managing partner Michael Shaw (pictured) confirmed that the measure had been introduced as well as flexible and part-time working and job sharing arrangements.
Both fee-earners and support staff in the firm's transactional practice groups will be affected by the new measures.

Shaw said: "We're doing this because we value those who work for us.

"There's not been the pick up in real estate and corporate and so we need to respond to this.
"We've implemented a number of measures across the transactional teams, but litigation remains healthy."
Shaw added that the firm will discuss the progress of the cost reduction initiatives at the end of each month and will carry out a full review at the end of October.
He said: "We're determined to emerge from the current global downturn as a strong and competitive business, and these types of decisions are a difficult but vital element in that process."
Cobbetts laid off 69 people in the last financial year.

Henderson Chambers helps BVC student win better grades from Cardiff Uni

Katy Dowell
London set Henderson Chambers has won a High Court battle for a law student who refused to accept the low marks Cardiff University gave her for the Bar Vocational Course (BVC).

Student Alice Clarke, who instructed Henderson barrister Patrick Green via the Bar Pro Bono Unit, took Cardiff University to the High Court to force it to accept the independent marking of two units of her barrister training course.
Clarke was originally given 40 per cent in the advanced criminal oral examination and 46 per cent in her negotiation paper.

However, an independent assessor improved the mark on the oral examination to 71 per cent. When Clarke was subsequently allowed to re-sit the second paper the mark was raised to 62 per cent.

Green argued that the university had awarded low marks to Clarke in 2005 because she had had disputes with two of her tutors. He added that the university should accept the independent marking as if it were the original result.
Mr Justice Wyn Williams upheld the argument.
Eversheds partner Wayne Davies instructed 11KBW's Clive Lewis QC to act on behalf of Cardiff University.

McGrigors bulks up in Belfast with local merger

Julia Berris

Edinburgh-headquartered firm McGrigors has merged with Irish firm L'Estrange & Brett, its second merger in a year.

McGrigors, which has had a Belfast office since 2000, will combine with L'Estrange on 1 October with the Scottish firm's Belfast lawyers moving into L'Estrange's office at that point.
The move comes after McGrigors last year strengthened its City presence after buying out West End litigation boutique Reid Minty (4 August 2008).
Speaking about the Belfast merger, McGrigors managing partner Richard Master said: "We wanted to strengthen our market position and gain critical mass. This deal achieves that in one stroke."
L'Estrange will take on the McGrigors brand when the merger goes through and the two firms will become financially integrated.
L'Estrange senior partner Brian Henderson said: "We see it as an important strategic move, which will also help us build on existing business gains in the UK and Ireland."

Anonymous Lawyer

Above The Law writes about a legal organization that asks for a family photo along with a resume.

We tried that.

We stopped.

Most of the people we hire? I don't want to see a picture. Have you looked around law school recently? Sitting in front of a computer all day doesn't exactly do wonders for the physical appearance. I don't want to have nightmares. The less I look at the people around here, the better.

And their families? That's the last picture I want. I don't want to know what your kids look like as I'm forcing you to cancel your family vacation. I don't want to know what your wife looks like as I'm telling you to stay late on her birthday. I don't want to know what your dog looks like as I'm forbidding you to go home and feed her even though you had no reason to think you'd be here all weekend and there's no one with a key to your apartment who can go in and give her some food. I don't want to know what you look like in casual clothes. I don't want to know what you look like when you smile. No one smiles here. I haven't seen a smile since 1993. I don't want to see it in a picture.

The only picture I want with an application is a picture of your acceptance letter from a top-10 law school.

Baker Botts Hits $100 Million Mark in Asarco Bankruptcy

Posted by Brian Baxter

As Tucson-based mining company Asarco nears the end of its four-year bankruptcy odyssey, lead debtors counsel Baker Botts submitted its twelfth application for fees on Friday.

The filing put the firm past the $100 million mark in billable hours since Asarco filed for bankruptcy in August 2005 after getting hit with a series of asbestos and environmental pollution suits.

It pales in comparison to the $100 million in fees that Weil, Gotshal & Manges has racked up in just a year's worth of bankruptcy work for Lehman Brothers, but Baker Botts may have more work ahead.

"This is probably the middle of the end, and the end should certainly be in sight," Baker Botts bankruptcy and insolvency chair Jack Kinzie says. "The final closing argument on the confirmation hearing was today and we expect a ruling from the judge on Monday."

Two companies are competing to acquire Asarco and bring the company out of bankruptcy. The first plan is proposed by Asarco's parent, Grupo Mexico, which lost control of Asarco in Chapter 11. The second plan is a proposed sale of Asarco to Mumbai-based Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of London-based mining concern Vedanta Resources.

Asarco favors a sale to Sterlite, Kenzie says, but Grupo Mexico is trying to scuttle that deal with its own exit plan to retain control of Asarco.

To say the relationship between Asarco and its parent Grupo Mexico is contentious would be an understatement. Earlier this year Baker Botts trial lawyer G. Irvin Terrell won a breach of fiduciary duty case in an adversary proceeding against Grupo Mexico, which was represented by Haynes and Boone's Brian Antweil.

Haynes and Boone bankruptcy partner Charles Beckham Jr., is representing Grupo Mexico in the bankruptcy case along with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy global financial restructuring partner Robert Moore.

Asarco retained Baker Botts in March 2004 to develop a prepackaged bankruptcy plan for the company's subsidiaries. The subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy in April 2005. When its union went on strike that July, Asarco filed for Chapter 11 a month later. (The union, represented by Richard Seltzer's from New York's Cohen, Weiss and Simon, is backing Sterlite's bankruptcy bid for Asarco.)

Since then, Baker Botts has been well compensated for its efforts. Bankruptcy court filings show the firm has billed Asarco for $101.8 million in fees and $5.5 million in expenses, including discounts. In Baker Bott's filing on Friday, the firm trimmed $120,000 from its fee request of $12.5 million for work completed between March 1 and June 30.

Shelby Jordan from Corpus Christi's Jordan, Hyden, Womble, Culbreth & Holzer is serving as local debtors counsel. Court records show the firm has submitted bills for $437,742 in fees and expenses.

Litigator of the Week: Thomas Golden of Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Posted by Andrew Longstreth
As journalists, we're supposed to be objective, but when it comes to Freedom of Information Act litigation, it's hard to hide our biases. And so for our Litigator of the Week honors, we're giving the nod to Willkie Farr & Gallagher's Tom Golden, who scored a big win for the public's right to know this week.
Golden represents media company Bloomberg, where two journalists filed a FOIA request seeking records on actions taken by the Federal Reserve last year during the financial crisis. Among other things, they wanted to know which companies participated in the government's emergency lending program, how much they borrowed, and what collateral they put up. After the Fed refused to give up the goods, Bloomberg went to court last fall. In its summary judgment motion, the Fed argued in part, that if the information was disclosed, it would cause financial damage to the borrowers and therefore should fall under FOIA exemptions.
But in a 47-page opinion issued on Monday, Manhattan federal district court judge Loretta Preska sided with Golden, who argued in Bloomberg's summary judgment motion that the Fed's claims are "based on wispy speculation, lack evidentiary support, and are contradicted by economic theory."
Golden's victory is all the more impressive considering that last month, Manhattan federal district court judge Alvin Hellerstein denied a similar FOIA request by Fox News Network. Golden declined to discuss the case with us, but we'll likely hear from him again, at least at the Second Circuit. The Fed has asked Judge Preska to stay her order pending an appeal.

Are Lawyers Creditors?

The American Bar Association is done waiting to see if the Federal Trade Commission will exempt lawyers from a new law requiring creditors to take certain internal measures against identity theft. The ABA filed a federal suit Thursday against the FTC, claiming the agency has wrongly classified lawyers as creditors and asking a federal judge to block the law from applying to attorneys when it goes into effect--if it ever does actually go into effect, according to the The National Law Journal, an Am Law Daily sibling publication.
The law requires organizations that act as creditors to establish internal policies and programs designed to fight identity theft. The FTC, which will govern enforcement of the law, has initially classified lawyers as creditors because firms provide services before they bill for those services--something akin to the extension of credit, according to the FTC and our colleagues at the NLJ.
The ABA says that classification is wrong, and raised the specter in its lawsuit of increasing legal costs should the FTC apply the legislation to law firms. The ABA turned to Proskauer Rose for representation in the case, the NLJ says.
The law is scheduled to go into effect Nov. 1, though the FTC has pushed back the start date three times already, according to the NLJ.

Debt Consolidation and Credit Counseling.....The facts.

Debt consolidation is often a good idea in
theory when someone is paying credit card debt, or unsecured debt. However,
in this recessionary economy, credit cards may carry a very high interest rate
than even a loan from a bank such as more than thirty percent, believe it or not.In addition, the total interest and the total cash flow
paid towards the debt is lower allowing the debt to be paid off sooner,
incurring less interest this is definitely a better solution than debt
settlement by far, because it doesn't destroy your credit.
All in all, after choosing against debt settlement I knew
debt consolidation or credit counseling was in fact the ideal solution overall. I believe that since the advantage which debt consolidation offers someone who has
high interest debt balances, forms may sometimes in fact take advantage of this particular benefit of
refinancing to charge extremely excessive fees in the debt consolidation loan. Sometimes
these particular fees in question are very close to the state maximum for mortgage fees. Furthermore,  certain dishonest firms may actually decide to wait until a customer has backed themselves
into bad debt situation in order to make them have to refinance their home, and they do this on purpose, unfortunately.  Then if the customer does not refinance then they might actually lose their home, so they are willing to
pay any allowable fee to complete the debt consolidation. In certain scenarios where the customer doesn't have have adequate time to find another
lender with lower fees this can be a real problem and cause heartache for this individuals in question, sadly enouph.
You may decide to enroll in non profit or perhaps even free Credit Counseling or Debt
Consolidation for your debt help .On the whole, if you are not disciplined enough to create a workable budget and
stick to it, can't work out a repayment plan with your creditors, or can't keep
track of mounting bills, consider contacting a credit counseling organization

Michael P. Ehline

Lawyer: what about the future?

What about the future?

Employment of lawyers is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2016. This is because more people will need legal help. But many people want to be lawyers, so there will be competition for good jobs. Most jobs will be in big cities.

Lawyer: how much does this job pay?

How much does this job pay?

Lawyers are some of the highest paid workers.
Many lawyers work for themselves. But other lawyers work for governments and private organizations. They earn a salary. Median annual earnings of lawyers were $102,470 in 2006—this means that half earned more than this amount and half earned less.
Some lawyers earned much more.

Lawyer: how do you get ready?

How do you get ready?

Lawyers need a license from the State in which they want to work. To get a license, people need to get a college degree and then go to law school for 3 years. Competition for admission to most law schools is intense. Finally, lawyers must pass a test called the bar examination.
Even after they start working, lawyers need to keep on learning about changes in the law. Most States make lawyers take classes from time to time.
To start getting ready for this job, students can take English classes to learn how to write, do research, and make presentations. Social studies classes teach about research and the law. People who want to be lawyers also need strong reading skills. They also need to be good at dealing with people.

Lawyer: what is this job like?

What is this job like?

People and companies hire lawyers to give them advice and to tell them what they can and can't do under the law. Sometimes, they hire lawyers to take their side in court against other people or companies, or against the government.
Lawyers spend a lot of time doing research. To be a good lawyer, a person must be good at finding facts in books, on computers, and in other places. Lawyers also interview people to get information.
After doing research, lawyers make arguments to show that the people they work for should win in court. Some lawyers speak in court. But many lawyers don't.
Lawyers also spend time writing. They write their arguments. Lawyers also write legal documents like contracts and wills. They need to be very specific.
Lawyers do most of their work in offices, law libraries, and courtrooms. They sometimes meet in clients' homes or businesses. Some lawyers meet clients in hospitals or prisons. Lawyers often work long hours, especially during a trial in court.

Proskauer Targeted in Class Action Over Handling of Stanford Financial

A group of investor clients of Stanford Financial Group has filed a class action against Proskauer Rose and partner Thomas V. Sjoblom.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, alleges that the law firm and Sjoblom participated in a massive investment fraud scheme that led to the intervention by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the appointment of a receiver for the investment firm.
The class action follows a guilty plea by former Stanford Chief Financial Officer James Davis made Thursday. In it, Davis appeared to implicate Stanford's outside attorney, Sjoblom, in a conspiracy to thwart an investigation by the SEC into Stanford's alleged fraud.
Sjoblom was assistant chief litigation counsel in the SEC's enforcement division prior to entering private practice.
Proskauer Rose issued a statement that said the lawsuit was "legally flawed and factually erroneous."
"There is no basis whatsoever for any claim that Proskauer, which functioned as defense counsel in a regulatory investigation, bears any responsibility for the fraud allegedly inflicted upon investors," the firm said in the statement.
A phone call to Sjoblom was not immediately returned.
In February, the SEC charged Stanford Financial Group, led by Allen Stanford, with orchestrating a "massive ongoing fraud" that included selling some $8 billion in high-yield certificates of deposit.
The class action, Troice v. Proskauer Rose, claims that the law firm and Sjoblom aided and abetted Stanford Financial's alleged fraud and that it conspired with Stanford Financial. It claims that under Texas law Proskauer Rose is liable for the $7 billion in total fraud losses.
Representing the plaintiffs are Edward C. Snyder and Jesse R. Castillo of Castillo Snyder in San Antonio.
"We know that one or two people cannot carry out a massive fraud of this scale," Snyder said.