DETROIT — United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain dumped attorneys from a Chicago law firm that was paid more than $3.2 million to handle the union's response to a landmark federal corruption investigation after firing UAW General Counsel Abigail Carter and two members of the union's legal team.
Attorneys from Cotsirilos, Tighe, Streicker, Poulos & Campbell revealed the rift in a federal court filing Wednesday that marks the latest development as Fain remakes the union's legal team amid ongoing oversight by a court-appointed government watchdog. That watchdog, UAW monitor Neil Barofsky, appointed to root out corruption and oversee reforms in one of the nation's most influential and troubled unions, has described in court filings a rocky start to the UAW's rehabilitation and revealed new ongoing federal investigations.
The move by Fain leaves the UAW without veteran criminal defense lawyers who have experience with the union's entrenched corruption as well as dealing with a government team of prosecutors and investigators in Detroit and U.S. District Judge David Lawson, who is overseeing reforms. The investigation led to 18 convictions and prolonged government oversight of the UAW and Stellantis NV due to a series of crimes by high-ranking officials who paid and pocketed bribes, broke labor laws and stole money from union members.
Law firm attorneys Terence Campbell and Eric Pruitt wrote in a filing Wednesday that Fain had prompted the split.
"The UAW's newly-elected president recently informed attorneys that the UAW no longer wishes to have attorneys represent the UAW in ongoing matters and directed attorneys to cease their representation of the UAW, including in this case," they wrote.
"Per the communication from the newly-elected UAW president, it is attorneys' understanding that the UAW has retained, or is retaining, new outside counsel to represent it in open matters," they added.
Lawson on Friday granted a request by the Chicago lawyers to withdraw from the federal oversight case. There was no immediate comment from a UAW spokesman Friday.
The UAW has spent millions in legal fees dealing with corruption and fallout from the scandal. Barofsky and his employer, Jennifer & Block LLP, have been paid more than $5.458 million for "monitor services." Law firm Crowell & Moring LLP, which has been working with the monitor, has received $1.342 million, according to the UAW's annual report.
The union also reported legal fees in 2022 for several former members of the UAW's governing board stemming from the corruption investigation. That includes: $16,490 for former President Ray Curry, $127,854 for retired Vice President Cynthia Estrada, $7,705 for retired regional Director Ronald McInroy and $825 for former Secretary-Treasurer Gary Casteel. None of these individuals have been charged with wrongdoing.
Carter's ouster as general counsel, meanwhile, is one of several personnel changes Fain has made since he took office in March after winning a narrow, historic direct election against Curry.
Carter was fired after Fain learned that information about ongoing federal investigations into "union officials" had been "concealed" from him, according to two sources close to the situation. The union is conducting a national search for a new general counsel.
In a memo earlier in June, Fain revealed that he has recently made "personnel changes among eight management-level roles in our union. I don't make these decisions lightly." The moves have inflamed sentiment among the union's Reuther Administrative Caucus, fueling whispered charges of retaliation by Fain and his team.
The Detroit News reported in mid-June that Fain fired six staff members, according to four sources familiar with the situation. Those dismissed include members of organizing and research departments, senior staffers and the union's Washington lobbyist, among others. All were members of the rival Reuther Caucus that lost control of the governing International Executive Board in the union's first direct election of top officers.
Federal oversight by an independent monitor was part of a December 2020 settlement between the government and the UAW to eliminate wrongdoing among union leadership. Ongoing attempts to reform the union following a landmark corruption scandal have been costly and rocky.
Last July, Barofsky issued a report accusing union officials of interfering with attempts to root out corruption in one of the nation's most influential and troubled unions, describing a rocky start to the UAW's rehabilitation.
At that time, Barofsky revealed he had opened 19 investigations and taken steps to punish the right-hand man of Gary Jones, a disgraced former UAW president. That aide, Danny Trull, helped Jones oversee a UAW regional office raided by FBI agents, according to the report that for the first time publicly confirmed reporting by The News that linked Trull to the corruption scandal.
Jones and another former UAW president, Dennis Williams, were among those convicted in the corruption scandal and sentenced to prison.
