An ALM Publication VOL 64, NO. 79

An ALM Publication VOL 64, NO. 79 $2.0. Luxury Aventura Condo $20 Million Loan Comes Back to Haunt Opponents Ordered to Pay Developer $26M Broinrard Law Firm, Defense Counsel by L id ia Dinkova A homeowner association for afflu- ent Aventura residents who opposed the neighboring hive at Island Estates con- dominium are on the hook for $26 mil- lion in damages to the developer after fighting against the limey project A jury on Tuesday agreed with the developer-that Williams Island Property Owners' Association Inc. breached an agreement that prohibited it from ob- jecting to the hive development on the nearby private island. • ThenevviycompletedPrive is a 16.sto- /Y. twin-tower complex with 160 units and panoramic views of Dumfoundling Bay. Ifs the only development on the 8-acre North Island, which connects byy bridge to Sbuthisland, an enclave of ' about 22 single-family homes. Another bridge ties South Island to Williams Island and the mainland: • Waldman Barnett co-managing partners Glen Waldman and Eleanor Barnett and partner Jeffrey Lam in Miami worked on the case on behalf of the developer. • Kenny Nachwalter shareholders Jeffrey Foreman, Richard Critchlow, Deborah. Sampled Corbishley and Elizabeth Brooks Honkonen represent- ed the association. They might appeal the verdict. . SEE PRIVE, PAGE A2 'We don't believe the lawn= has the abllfty to pay us back, so we want to safeguard ow interests; said Paul D. Turner of Perlman Bajandas Yevoll & Albright in Port Lauderdale. by Samantha Joseph A motion for sanctions takes aim at several high-profile South Florida attorneys — Bruce Rogow, Albert Frevola Jr., Jessica Kopas and • lynched E. Drake Jr. — as an old debt comes back to haunt Conrad & Scherer. The, underlying breach-of-con- tact complaint could wipe out the Fort Lauderdale law firm under a motion asking the court to appoint a receiver to take control of Conrad & Scherer The 2017 lawsuit pits fanner client Douglas Von Allman' against the Arm that represented him for. years. The sanctions motion alleges Conrad & Scherer borrowed $20 million from Von Albion to fund • litigation against convicted Pont schemer and law film chairman ;17Scott Rothstein and to latmchp Ra- tional human rights 'practice. One venture was successful, -while the other embroiled the firm in' ongoing multidistrict litigation and other suits in federal court Von • Allmen's court pleadings suggest Conrad Si Scherer overextended its Nacho Business: Appeals Court Rules 4rarridaaaa sea resources and sought to avoid the multimillion-dollar debt by all*g its client-mined-lender agreed to forego repayment in exchange for legal services. Von Ailmen claimed his money funded Conrad & Scherer litiga- tion that helped recover millions of dollars for him and other victims of Rothstein. who led the defunct 70-attorney labor and employment firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. Those efforts won accolades for the firm and William Soberer. A confidential settlement was reached with Bank of America N.A. on claims the bank knew about the $1.2 billion Ponzt scheme but still referred investors to it in hcipes of landing business from Rothstein. Von Allmen also claimed his loan funded human tights cases against multinational compa- nies — a venture that has brought negative attention to the firm. Former Conrad & Scherer partner Terrence Collingsworth allegedly paid witnesses to change their tes- timony in a case accusing Alabama coal' conglomerate Drununond . • SEE SANCTIONS, PAGE A6 11th Circuit Bench Slaps Judge and Attorney in EFTA00796742 arouoY • iefssocfatiores Young < • soon, dried it waY Forward: ' addtwo young lawyers to . - in 201S:calls- for theABA Alci • 1st cis legal education council and eventual- . - lyciesIgnate two ofthe 15 at-large cotmdl positions for young lawyers. "The deans and faculty on the Coundl know the cost oftoday's tuition only in the sense that they can recite the price: the. report. reads. "They do not understand. ' thelifebnpaa of tuittoriprices of $40,000, 55a000, or even more than $60.00 per year have on decision making? But Maureen O'Rourke, chair of the ABM legal education council and dean at Boston University School of Law. said r ,;'vaintariiy publish jamdoyment report they •Nancmal Assodation for el-rurgenl jititeeirrien t those changes changes will help rttetv-reptherle ak-educators tackle two of the pro- fession's most pressing issues: the skyrocketing cost of a law degree and the lack of diversity within the lawyer ranks, said Law School Transparency Executive Director Kyle McEntee. 'The takeaway is that the cost of le- gal education is too high, and we need to take steps to address that," he said. -The first thing to address anyproblem is to understand the facts as they are. We want those facts." McEntee said he's not surprised by the ABAs pushback to the addition of two young lawyers to the'legal educa- tion council given that the ABA's Young Lawyers Division last fail brought forth a similarproposal that the cotmal rejected, and because the council itself is currently in the process of restructuring. • sicinal. young attorneys, and studentsin the time we went to schooL" Kelly° Testy, former dean of the University of Washington School of Law and current president of the Law School Admission Council, said she found much to like in the new report. The legal profession as a whole ben- efits Nithen prospective law students are informed about the opportunities and challenges a law degree presents, she said_ Moreovei the legal educa- tion council could use some younger voices. 'There should be a variety of gen- erational perspectives in the mix in -terms of where our profession is go- ing and what's important for it," Testy said. "Things are changng really fast. I graduated from law school in 1991 and I've been in many moths where I'm the young one. That's not good." • Kenn Sloan Is the legal education editor i,giagiglui “ • .. .au at ALM. Contact harm On Twitter @ KatenSloanNU. FROM PAGE Al SANCTIONS Corp. of conspiring to kill labor activists in Colombia. "We don't believe the taw firm has the ability to pay us back, so we want to safe- guard ow-Interests," said Von /Omen's attorney Paul D. Turner of Perlman Bajandas Yevoli & Albright in Fort Lauderdale. "They're just re- arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It doesn't matter what you do, the ship is still • going to go down." Von Allmon alleges de- fense counsel presented baseless arguments to sup- port their clients' position. His court filings ask Broward Circuit Judge John J. Murphy I/1 to sanction the defendants and their lawyers — Rogow. Frevola, Kopas and notice under a Florida statute that punishes attorneys and liti- gants for raising 'imsuport- ed claims or defenses. Rogow, a 50-year litigatoz said he was "amused, be- mused and unperturbed" by the motion for sanctions. • "Mr. Von Allmen's law- yen are frenetic filers. Their pleadings are always breath- less.' he wrote in an email. "My co-counsel colleagues share my confidence that the motion is just a schoolboy tactic, devoid of merit." Defense lawyers bad not responded by . deadline to the motion for sanctions Med Monday ' Rogow's resume cites his argument of more than 450 civil and criminal cases in. federal and state appel- late courts. Frevola, Kopas and Dutko, meanwhile, are partners at Conrad & Scherer, which has offices in Florida, New York, North Carolina and Ecuador. Von Alimen's pleadings 'paint a picture of a group of lawyers arguing a point despite tax filings and bank documents favoring his position: 'The crux of defendants' counterclaim is that nor a penny of the $20 million debt to plaintiffs is owed. This is directly contradicted by the sworn positions of Conrad & Scherer and Bill -Scherer to the Internal Revenue Service," the sanctions mo- tion said. "Counsel of record know their position in their defense to 'plaintiffs' claims and several counts in the counterclaim are unsupport- able in fact or law." Rogow said Von Allman is the one with the debt. "That misses the point," Rogow said of the reference to loan documents proving the debt 'There can be — and there were oral modi- fications of the loan. ... On the firm's side of the ledget money is owing." Details on the agreements between Von Allinen and the borrowers are scarce because attorneys on both sides asserted attorney-client privilege between the plain- tiff and his former counsel and filed most of the court documents under seal. Samantha Joseph is an award-whining journalist with Daily Business Review, Law. con +more. Grad School: . Contact On Twitter: (0) SjosephWriter DAILY BUS1N 633 S. tavern **Jon Liderale.k.1.1141 Mein saftchboarit 954. 4592600 . kiln two 474.466-26]6 tiewr4395:1647Wolreon) . natieeom Fax: 954 4052626 Dkplay MverWing: 554- 4439.611 her Wow flerkeary 105.347.4455 Classinet 211-457-7.67 pubic eforketrlegedk ≤54-4961500 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW — PALM BEACH 1055 Mums Aw.5.k 30115w-1P:1e tent R 33101 IMis refichboord: 561- CO-2060 Male Fart 561.620-7077 Display /Wye/thing: )25.547-6659 Law Finn gerkeeinw 115- 347-6619 Clasnakk 212.457-7163 Pubic NouRante9alte 561-472-21160 ircuktlorn (07- 256.2472 Del very Questions 877- 256-2472 Ter math any S new rtonitm kom kept Wein RS; WO 306777.75'.0 and wk forte nurser. Wich isthe leakurcipt5. , TO PURCHASE: Reprint: £77 bi 5364 httkvic6415vbiatptneR 371-256-2412 Canoga Access Entoprbookle 355. 808-4 556 Sack Issue= 377•Bli-2472 06 an bantam) EDITORIAL Mmia.Thieor: Web Editor. Utter. Wbon 305-347-6411 Prins Hinpt BUSINESS Group Pub:cow 11Genern Mer-twr, Reckons WayneOwls 401. 419.2101 Yke president / Pub •i< batire e.t.a et ',tr.. leti DWI 305-5474615 Direcor el held 54.66 bterketleg Solutions: nos Oaken 313- 3419647 Mena. / ratioas*M15: GullerewEarcra 3474698 DeskeretienctAkin Coln Neenprewb/ tt thelpdpri eta Curt/ and oak cows WArn*Darleard Wowed ardthe US • WoreCounfortbeSanbeen DIWa 1141wkla be 64. 52c 120 &partway, New Tot NY 10:05 • 212-457-9400 ArrALM EFTA00796743