WSJ Editorial — Milberg Weiss Bad, Indicting Firm Worse

In its lead editorial “Very Rough Justice,” The Wall Street Journal calls the Justice’s Department indictment of the entire firm a “blunderbuss tactic” and a “nuclear option.” It says the indictment — like that of Arthur Andersen — could mean the death of the firm and that innocent victims “will be the secretaries and paralegals who aren’t rich but may well lose their jobs.”
But the editorial’s biggest concern is the DOJ’s stance of threatening to indict unless it waived attorney-client privilege and label its partners criminals. The editorial warns that this is “a dangerous precedent that can be used — and surely will be — against more honest business enterprises.” It adds: “The threat of a corporate death sentence is an abuse of prosecutorial discretion against any but the most corrupt criminal enterprises — namely, the mob.”