Stanford Defense Turns Into Legal Circus

By AMIR EFRATI
WSJ

HOUSTON—Since his arrest last year, R. Allen Stanford has hired—and fired—a parade of blue-chip attorneys as he prepares for a January trial on charges of operating a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

It isn't uncommon for criminal defendants to go through one or two sets of defense lawyers during a long campaign, but the Stanford case is exceptional, legal experts said. A total of about 120 lawyers, paralegals and clerks from at least 10 law firms have come and gone after running into conflicts with Mr. Stanford, court records show.

Dick DeGuerin, Mr. Stanford's first criminal lawyer, was canned after about five months of defending the onetime Texas billionaire, who has pleaded not guilty to criminal and civil charges in federal court in Texas. "I wish I was still in it," said Mr. DeGuerin. He found out he was fired by reading another law firm's press release, he said.

"I was chagrined, I was sad," said Jacks C. Nickens, who worked on the civil case and was sacked last year after about four months. Michael Essmyer said he got his pink slip last month after just a few weeks on the job.

(More here.)