Reactions among eight longtime New York-based white-collar counsel were unanimous and immediate: Wednesday’s partial verdict acquitting three former Dewey & LeBoeuf executives on multiple counts of falsifying business records is very good news for the defense.
After three-and-a-half months of trial and 14 days of deliberations, jurors in state court in Manhattan found former Dewey & LeBoeuf chair Steven Davis, former executive director Stephen DiCarmine and ex-CFO Joel Sanders not guilty on 49 of 97 business records falsification counts. But the jurors, who indicated in the past week that they were struggling, remain split on the remaining falsification counts, and on all of the more serious grand larceny, conspiracy and Martin Act charges.
