According to a report, about 300 students from 52 law schools across the country, including Harvard and NYU, are boycotting work for a law firm to handle the case of environmental lawyer Steven Donziger.
Lawyers for the firm Seward and Kissel were appointed by the government as the court accused Donziger of criminal prosecution of the case by denying a special prosecution request to hand him over his cell phone and computer, The New York Law Journal reported.
In a letter sent to Seward on Wednesday, he claimed that the firm struggled to sue Donninger in a criminal case – which helped secure a $ 8.6 billion verdict against Chevron in Ecuador – because Seward had several Chevron has been represented in other unrelated cases, the outlet reported.
The letter to students from schools including Stanford, Yale, Harvard and NYU stated, “We prohibit uneducated law students from considering employment with the firm, as long as he is Chevron’s personal prosecutor Does not move away from his opponent’s post.
“The future of the immoral conduct of prosecutors involving Seward and Kissel’s chevron opens the door for cases in which judges allow private law firms to prosecute critics of corporations — multinationals without disclosing their ties to the same industries,” the letter continued , According to the report.
They want the firm to withdraw its involvement in Donziger’s case.
In 2011, a Ecuadorian court found Chevron responsible for widespread pollution and awarded rainforest communities and attorneys on the case – the Donziger – Landmark payout.
Chevron brought a suit against Donziger in Manhattan Federal Court in 2013 and a year later a judge found that Donziger committed fraud in the Ecuador case to help secure heavy payments. The legal site reported that the money has still not been released.
In 2018 seeking damages for money from Donziger, Chevron requested that he turn on his electronics – which Donziger refused, citing attorney-client privilege and preventing his criminal contempt case.
Federal prosecutors refused to bring contempt charges against Donziger, in order to save a federal judge to appoint a sewer for the task.
Donziger has unsuccessfully argued in his criminal case that Seward has a conflict and the report states that judges in both his civil and criminal cases also have conflicts of interest.
The Law Journal reported that his criminal trial is scheduled for 10 May.
Seaward’s managing partner James Coffer told the Law Journal, “The lawyers working on the Donziger criminal case have acted ethically and have no conflict that warrants their independence and judgment as their court-appointed special prosecutors Will spoil the role.
“[Donziger’s] Conflict of interest conflicts were reported, and [federal] The court [in Manhattan] Rejected it. “
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