Steve Berman, a name partner at Seattle-based plaintiffs firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, did not return a request for comment about Armstrong. Hagens Berman sponsors its own road cycling team, as do other firms like Morrison & Foerster.
This week the International Olympic Committee stripped Armstrong of a bronze medal he won at the Sydney summer games in 2000, while cycling's world governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale, urged Armstrong to appear before its independent commission that is investigating doping. British firms Marcfarlanes and 20 Essex Street were hired last month by UCI to act as legal advisers to the commission, according to U.K. publication Legal Week.
Armstrong resigned in November from the Austin-based Lance Armstrong Foundation, which also saw its top in-house lawyer leave that same month. The most recent public financial records filed by the nonprofit for 2011 show that general counsel and executive vice president of people and organizational development Mona Patel earned $186,771 that year. Patel is no longer listed as an employee of the foundation on its website and has since joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as its general counsel and vice president of human resources, according to her profile on LinkedIn, a social networking site for professionals.
Patel, a devoted cyclist of her own who spoke with sibling publication Texas Lawyer in late 2011, said in an email to The Am Law Daily that she remains a committed Livestrong advocate and fundraiser. "Both my younger brother and mother had cancer, so I am grateful to Livestrong for supporting my family and cancer survivors around the world," she said about her departure from the foundation, which was the subject of a feature story by Outside magazine last year on how it spends the proceeds from the sale of its Livestrong yellow wristbands.
In his interview with Winfrey, Armstrong said he hoped his foundation would survive, and noted that one of his lowest moments was when he was asked to step down from the charity's board. The foundation itself has announced that it is “disappointed” in Armstrong's actions but still “grateful” for its namesake’s contributions to fighting cancer.
As for whether Armstrong’s public plea has served its purpose—the cancer activist admitted being a "bully" to Winfrey and said he chose to speak out because his story had become “so bad and so toxic”—the reaction of others to his televised confession has been decidedly mixed.
“He kind of reminded me of John Edwards,” says one Am Law 100 partner who has squared off against Armstrong and watched pieces of the Winfrey interview. “Yeah, it was a good apology, but it was a little late."
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Phillip
I'd be surprised if Lance did not have most if not all of his assets protected in trusts that can't be touched by judgment creditors. This guy's legal team makes OJ Simpsons's "Dream Team" look like a bunch of punk amateurs in comparison. Lance Armstrong will go down in history as being one huge boon for the legal industry and they will continue to profit off of him for many years to come.
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