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THE 9- 1ERITAGE
cQ/r A,addah

Legal Bill
In Dispute

Washington/JTA
awyers who helped Holocaust sur-
vivors win a $1.25 billion settle-
ment from Swiss banks have submit-
ted their bill: $15 million.
The attorneys' fees have Jewish
groups questioning the morality of
lawyers who seek money for what they
see as a humanitarian effort.
"Holocaust survivors are being
exploited by a feeding frenzy of fee-
grabbing lawyers," said Elan Steinberg,
executive director of the World Jewish
Congress.
The judge overseeing the August
1998 settlement will now review those
requests — which were capped at 1.8
percent of the award, or about $22.5
million — and decide how much the
attorneys should receive. Judge
Edward Korman is scheduled to hold
a hearing on the requests Jan. 5.
Roman Kent, an Auschwitz sur-
vivor who chairs the American
Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, had
harsh words for the nine attorneys
who submitted the bill.
"First it was the Germans, then it
was the Swiss and then it's the lawyers
stealing everything," said Kent, who
said the settlement with the banks was
reached through the political and
diplomatic efforts of Jewish groups
and American officials and not the
lawsuits that were filed.
Attorney Robert Swift, who is han-
dling the group's request for fees and
expenses, rejected the criticism, saying
it was the lawsuits that led to the settle-
ment. "The litigation was central to the
whole negotiations and we were central
to those negotiations," he said. Swift
and another attorney, Mel Urbach, who
has represented the World Council of
Orthodox Communities, said the total
amount of expenses and fees would be
less than 2 percent of the settlement.
Swift asked the court for nearly $3
million in fees and expenses for 2,520
hours of work, while Urbach has asked
for about $2 million for 3,938 hours.
Attorney Edward Fagan asked for the
most, nearly $4 million in fees and
expenses for 6,299 hours.
Jewish officials are particularly upset
that the lawyers asked the court to keep
secret all details regarding the hours they
spent working on the case. Steinberg said
one of the attorney's time sheets shows
that he charged $2,365 — 8.6 hours at
$275 an hour — to purchase and read
"Nazi Gold" by Tom Bower. ❑

L

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12/3
1999

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