Legal News

Law Blog Q&A With Harry Markopolos?s Lawyer

By Dan Slater

Given the, well, outspoken nature of SEC assailant Harry Markopolos, it’s almost difficult to believe that the man requires a lawyer. But he’s got one: McCarter & English’s Dr. Gaytri D. Kachroo, who co-chair’s the firm’s international practice group and leads its India initiatives.

(For a recap of Markopolos’s testimony, click here. Here’s LB coverage from this morning.)

Dr. Kachroo was in D.C. today with her client. We reached her as she was shuttling between meetings.

Hi, Gaytri. Can you tell us how you met Harry?

Sure. We met at a conference in Cambridge about five years ago, and started chatting. He had a number of personal and business issues that he needed handled.

Any other matters you can tell us about?

No, nothing else is public.

How do you think things went today?

I think it went very well, and I think we got tremendous support from Congress. I got wonderful feedback indicating that he was one of the best witnesses they’ve had. I think Congress sees some real deficiencies in the SEC’s behavior and structure, and it’s deeply troubled by how this Ponzi scheme went undetected and unexamined. There should’ve been more due diligence on the part of the investors. Fund-of-funds and feeder funds should’ve known. It was a situation of the emperor has no clothes.

What’s it like to represent someone who’s so outspoken? Sometimes seems like Harry is acting pro se.

I would not say that he’s ever been acting pro se. If anything happens in his life, he definitely picks up the phone and gives me a call and I’m usually there.

What’s he like as a client?

I find him to be one my best clients. He takes instruction from me with regard to his legal responsibilities incredibly seriously and he really does listen. With regard to industry matters, he’s clearly an expert and I defer to him on those issues. It’s a question of figuring out what each person does and what they’re good at. He values my time and my effort, and I think we’ve made a very good team here.

How did the SEC’s testimony strike you?

I was very surprised that we did not get any formal apology from the SEC. I expected to see something like that. We instead heard, as Congressman Ackerman said, a lot of information that basically came from the SEC’s Web site, about what the various departments are supposed to do.

So what lies ahead for the SEC?

I don’t know what will actually happen, but it doesn’t look good right now. Tomorrow, we meet with David Kotz, the SEC’s inspector general. He’s taking a very independent stance, so that’s encouraging. But it remains to be seen what they’ll do with Harry’s recommendations. I anticipate [the creation of] an Office of the Whistleblower. Many congresspeople seemed to be thinking about that.

Could Harry head that office?

I guess we’ll have to ask them when the opportunity presents itself. Maybe they’ll place it in Boston, so they could make it convenient for him.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).