The Miami-based firm’s run of bad luck began when it was caught up in the emerging trend of financial crisis victims seeking to blame their troubles on their law firms. Greenberg was accused of covering up more than $700 million in losses suffered by the company of a now-bankrupt private mortgage broker and real estate loan provider. The case was filed at the end of January in California.

Bankruptcy claim

In a separate but similar case, claims by bankrupt San Francisco law firm Heller Ehrman have also been troubling Greenberg for some time. It is alleged that the firm allowed Heller’s bank to seize tens of millions of dollars in assets after it dissolved. Greenberg claims it only acted as instructed, and that Heller is attempting to unwind outside of bankruptcy.
Then in February, a New York jewellery manufacturer accused Greenberg and two of its lawyers of deliberately working against her and for her sister during an inter-family trademark dispute in which the firm represented both sides. The Am Law web site states that Greenberg described the plaintiffs damage demands of more than $100 million as ‘pretty unrealistic’.

Irish connection

Next up for Greenberg was another New York case, as a judge ruled on at the end of February that a malpractice claim filed against Greenberg real estate department head Robert Ivanhoe by Ireland’s government-created ‘bad bank’ NAMA Holdings could proceed despite the firm’s objections that the suit should be dismissed because of a related arbitration decision.