ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 14, 1996 TAG: 9608140028
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
Lawyer disciplined for huge defense bill
BOSTON - Lawyers are often criticized for charging for work they didn't do. Laurence S. Fordham got in trouble for doing too much.
Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court publicly censured Fordham, saying he should not have put in 227 hours (billed at about $50,000) getting a man off on drunken driving charges.
Drunken driving cases typically cost $1,500 to $10,000 in lawyer's fees, said Arnold Rosenfeld, the bar counsel who prosecuted the case. One prosecution witness said 40 hours of work should have been sufficient to prepare the case.
Fordham, now retired, may be the first lawyer in the country to be disciplined for putting in too many hours, attorneys on both sides said.
Even prosecutors agree that Fordham actually did the work. The issue was whether all those hours were necessary.
Fordham, 66, said he will appeal the ruling, issued Friday.
- Associated Press
Teamsters seize Philadelphia local
PHILADELPHIA - Teamsters on Tuesday seized control of a Philadelphia local accused of corruption and mismanagement, ushering out the president and changing the locks on the door while enraged members watched.
International president Ron Carey ordered the takeover of Local 107, which represents more than 3,000 truck drivers. A federal court-appointed review panel had said the local has continued a long history of ``financial malpractice'' and ties to the Mafia.
Local 107 was the 65th seized by the Teamsters since Carey was elected in 1991 on a pledge to purge the nation's largest labor union of corruption.
``Today's Teamsters union belongs to the members, not to the Mob,'' Carey said in a statement. ``We are not going to tolerate corruption in any form.''
Local 107 members said the takeover was retaliation for their support of James P. Hoffa, the son of the former union leader, who is running against Carey for president in a November election.
Last week, Carey seized Local 714 in Chicago, whose secretary-treasurer, William Hogan, is Hoffa's running mate.
In Philadelphia, a trustee was named from Local 115, which is led by Carey-supporter John P. Morris.
The Independent Review Board, created under a 1989 federal consent decree order and whose members include former FBI director William Webster and former federal judge Frederick Lacy, said Local 107 continued to have contact with former local president Joseph Cimino Jr. who was barred from the union for associating with a convicted Philadelphia mob boss.
- Associated Press
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