Articles

Edward S. Cheng quoted in Massacusetts Lawyers Weekly article on disputes in co-counsel agreements

Edward S. Cheng, vice chair and partner in the firm’s Litigation Department, was quoted in an October 3, 2019 article in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (MLW), “Firms sue class co-counsel for not carrying his weight.” The article details a dispute in federal court in Boston over who gets a share of $3.7 million in attorneys’ fees and expenses awarded from a $10 million class-action settlement against Bank of New York Mellon.

Read the full article at Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (subscriber content).

From the article:

“Despite the rancor reflected in the court record, Boston attorney Edwards S. Cheng sees the fee dispute as boiling down to basic contract principles with the wildcard being how to quantify McTigue’s obligation under the agreement to perform 20 percent of the work in the class action.

‘When you read the complaint, it sounds like one counsel complaining about the other counsel not doing enough work,’ says Cheng, a business and professional liability litigator at Sherin & Lodgen. ‘The phrase ‘20 percent of the work’ sounds wonderfully objective, but it’s not. And even if the allegations [of contumacious, uncivil conduct] are true, it doesn’t mean the defendant didn’t do 20 percent of the work.'”