Back in 1983 the firm was appointed by a court to monitor the Labor Department's performance on the handling of unemployment insurance appeals. In the last 17 years alone the practice has earned US$ 16 million so the total earned is likely to be significantly higher. The original appointment was to monitor 600 appeals a year. But the firm found enough errors each time the contract was coming to an end to obtain a court order for an extension. 

'Nothing similar'

'I know of nothing even vaguely similar,' law professor John C Coffee of Columbia University told the New York Daily News. David Raff of the firm said that the Department was making progress in complying but he would not give a likely end date for the appointment. Meanwhile William Rold, a former chief administrative judge at the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board has sued the firm, alleging greed and corruption.