Senior Mayer Brown manager charged with theft and other tales of woe
07 September 2012
Two more classic entries into the canon of RollOnFriday Dodgy Solicitors this week. The first is the result of serious charges laid against a law firm manager in the USA. The second, a previously distinguished IP lawyer brought low by his own wandering hands.

There were exciting scenes at Mayer Brown last week when it was revealed the firm's former Chief Information Officer has been charged with pinching $850,000 from his employer using a not very sophisticated invoicing-and-kickback scam. David Tresch, who was sacked at the end of June after an internal investigation, is alleged to have received kickbacks which he spent on a motorhome and cars. As usual with such thefts, the charges show it took over a year for the firm to catch up with vanishing money (see also: Grierson, Christopher). In a statement, Mayer Brown confirmed Tresch had been "terminated" but had "no further comment at this time in deference to the ongoing criminal investigation".


Back in Blighty, as previously reported by RollOnFriday, comes the cautionary tale of Hugh Wotherspoon. Wotherspoon was, until his moment of madness, a well-respected IP litigator at Ladas & Parry. Last Friday, however, his career was in ruins when he was given a three-year supervision order and added to the sex offenders' register after admitting groping a woman on a night bus between Edinburgh and London. His excuse was that he "thought she might like it", whereas actually, she was just too alarmed to scream. Wotherspoon resigned from his firm as soon as he was convicted, but if legal regulators consider him a danger to the public, he could be struck off the roll.

Two excellent additions to the hall of shame. Make sure you send your nomination to the usual place.