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Friday, July 24, 2009

Courts - "Former Milbank Chairman to Testify as Wills Expert in Brooke Astor Trial"

Noeleen G. Walder's report today in the New York Law Journal begins:

Three months into the criminal trial of socialite Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, and the lawyer he hired who allegedly helped him loot his mother's estate, the presiding judge has cleared the way for a trusts and estate expert to testify for the prosecution.

Alexander D. Forger, the former chairman of Milbank Tweed Hadley McCloy, can give expert testimony on the "patterns" of Astor's wills and codicils and the "professional practice standards" for trusts and estates attorneys, Acting Supreme Court Justice A. Kirke Bartley Jr. ruled Wednesday from the bench.

However, the judge barred Forger from testifying on issues that could prove critical to the prosecution's case: whether Henry Christensen III, who represented Astor for more than 20 years, and G. Warren Whitaker, the attorney who drafted a hotly disputed Jan. 12, 2004, codicil to the socialite's 2002 will, violated ethical standards.

Read the submissions of the prosecution and Marshall regarding Forger's appearance.

Here is a list of earlier, related ILB entries.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 24, 2009 10:13 AM
Posted to Courts in general