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UnitedLex, LeClairRyan Founder Ask Judge to Toss Trustee's Lawsuit
A bankruptcy judge in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday said he would "quickly" decide the fate of a lawsuit against alternative legal services provider UnitedLex Corp. and Gary LeClair, the co-founder and longtime leader of defunct law firm LeClairRyan, Reuters reported. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Huennekens asked few questions during a two-hour hearing Tuesday to consider amended claims by chapter 7 trustee Lynn Tavenner, who is overseeing the dissolution of once-leading Richmond law firm LeClairRyan. "I won’t be keeping everyone in suspense," Judge Huennekens said of his plans to decide the case. Tavenner alleges that a 2018 joint venture between LeClairRyan and UnitedLex added more debt to the struggling law firm while improperly handing UnitedLex control over LeClairRyan's operations and its intellectual property. The trustee also accuses LeClair of enriching himself prior to his firm's 2019 collapse. The complaint described LeClairRyan as a "Ponzi scheme" that used capital contributions from new lateral hires to pay out legacy shareholders. Both UnitedLex and LeClair have denied Tavenner's claims. Thomas McKee, a Greenberg Traurig shareholder representing UnitedLex and its related entities, called the allegations "vague" and "conclusory" at Tuesday's hearing.
