Risk Update

Family Risk — Conflicts Case, Corporate Conflicts Staff-to-Lawyer Insider Trading Allegation

Posted Dan Bressler

“It’s Out: Sills Cummis Forced Off Case That Could Affect Future Work” —

  • “A New Jersey judge has disqualified Sills Cummis & Gross from representing the defendant in a real estate dispute, after the firm represented a plaintiff in a related matter. The ruling suggests Sills Cummis, which has long represented the Nuckel family in connection with extensive real estate holdings, could find itself shut out of future work for the family.”
  • “Sills Cummis was disqualified from representing Jill Nuckel in a dispute with her brothers, Donald Nuckel and James Nuckel Jr., over management of an apartment complex. Superior Court Judge James DeLuca granted the motion to disqualify after hearing details of the firm’s 2015 representation of James Nuckel in a dispute with his sister over the same property.”
  • “James Nuckel claimed in court papers that Sills Cummis worked with him for many years on real estate matters, including disputes with his sister and brother… ‘Because of that representation, Sills Cummis knows intimate details of my life and business interests,’ he said.”
  • “The motion papers said Sills Cummis’ representation of Jill Nuckel violated a New Jersey Supreme Court directive barring a lawyer from representing an individual whose interests are adverse to another party the lawyer represents, even if the two representations are not related.”
  • “Fiorentino asserted that disqualification was not warranted because his consultation with James Nuckel was brief and narrow in scope and that he had no contact with James Nuckel in more than five years.”

“Ex-Goldman Sachs analyst, brother charged in UK with insider trading” —

  • “Britain’s financial watchdog said it has started fraud and insider dealing proceedings against two brothers, one who worked as a Goldman Sachs analyst, the other as a lawyer at Clifford Chance.”
  • “‘Mohammed Zina was employed by Goldman Sachs International as an analyst in the Conflicts Resolution Group in their London office. Suhail Zina was a solicitor at Clifford Chance, also in London,’ the FCA said in a statement on Tuesday.”
  • “Goldman Sachs said the protection of confidential client information is of paramount importance for the bank, and it has worked very closely with the FCA. ‘Neither the firm nor any other current or former employee of the firm is the subject of an investigation into the matters giving rise to the proceedings,’ Goldman Sachs said.”
  • “Clifford Chance, a member of the elite group of ‘magic circle’ law firms, said Suhail Zina left in 2018, declining further comment.”