The firm’s administrator is remaining tightlipped over the accusations
King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) partners are under fire amid allegations clients’ confidential files were left scattered on the office floor in the run up to the firm’s collapse.
A report published yesterday claims that documents containing client information were left “littering the floor” of KWM’s London office.
With an unnamed source quoted by The Lawyer Magazine (£) comparing the scene to “shared student flats”, the story states that lawyers for the firm’s administrators, Quantuma, wrote to all KWM partners yesterday to “remind them of their regulatory responsibilities”, particularly those relating to client confidentiality.
A spokesperson for Quantuma declined to comment on the accuracy of the report.
The news comes days after Legal Cheek revealed an incredible email bust-up between two of KWM’s top lawyers. New York-based partner George Pinkham and Timothy Taylor QC, who is based out in Dubai, exchanged online blows over who was to blame for the demise of the firm.
And while KWM’s postmortem gets underway the rescue effort to save the firm’s stricken trainees is in full swing.
In the past 24 hours, White & Case and DLA Piper have joined the likes of Allen & Overy, Hogan Lovells, Ashurst, Fried Frank and Linklaters in taking on some of those left in training limbo. The London office of the US giant confirmed that one current KWM trainee will be joining at the end of the month, while another ten are currently being “assessed”. Meanwhile, DLA is understood to have taken on four KWM trainees and nine support staff.
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