Legal News

Former AUSA Selected as Bankruptcy Trustee in Dreier Case

By Dan Slater

For a week, it’d been all quiet on the Marc Dreier front. But now a new lawyer is set to be welcomed to the Dreier Party.

The NYLJ reports that Sheila M. Gowan (University of Minnesota, Brooklyn Law) has been selected as the bankruptcy trustee in the case. Dreier, founder and sole owner of the law firm Dreier LLP — for those of you took December off — is alleged to have perpetrated a massive fraud against a group of hedge funds. (Here’s our coverage.)

Gowan, a former Proskauer associate and AUSA in the Southern District of New York, is now a partner at Diamond McCarthy, a litigation boutique. In an affidavit, she reportedly noted that for seven years her current partner, Howard D. Ressler, worked with Southern District of New York Chief Bankruptcy Judge Stuart M. Bernstein, who authorized her appointment. As trustee, she’ll aid in the liquidation of the firm’s remaining assets.

Her hourly rate on the case, notes the NYLJ, is $495. She also reportedly identified five Diamond McCarthy attorneys, three partners, a counsel and an associate who “will likely represent” her as trustee. Their hourly rates range from $210 to $610 per hour. Judge Bernstein is scheduled to rule on her confirmation on Jan. 9.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 02, 2009 (boomark / email).