During a hearing a little over a week ago, the District of Columbia federal court ruled attorney John Pierce’s Proud Boy-tied client, Christopher Worrell, must stay locked up through trial. Worrell is currently incarcerated in the Charlotte County, Jail in Punta, Florida, the facility captured in the cover photo. On Friday, in an effort to get his client out of jail, Pierce filed an emergency motion requesting the court reconsider its earlier ruling.
A key paragraph from the motion is below, a full copy is here.
The emergency request asks for “conditional release pending electronic ankle monitoring and home detention. ” The filing also claims that Worrell “should be allowed to receive the proper medical care and treatment for his lymphoma in his home community, reunite with his family, resume his job with a living wage” and says “he does not present a threat to his community or pose a flight risk to await his trial date.”
Covid-19
The motion’s reliance on Covid-19 is interesting.
First, Pierce’s own social media activity.
In addition to Pierce’s tweets, Worrell is without a mask in this photo from the January 6 attack.
Is Chris Worrell in Good Hands?
John Pierce has spent his career as a civil, not a criminal lawyer. This perhaps showed during an unsuccessful and embarrassing performance by Pierce during the Rittenhouse extradition hearing. Rittenhouse fired Pierce about two months later. Pierce already let Worrell down in his initial attempt to keep his client out of jail.
Litany of Pierce Issues
In addition, in 2016, Pierce accepted a $2.5 million a year law firm job. Less than four months later, Pierce physically assaulted a co-worker and lost his job. Since then, Pierce’s issues have included:
- Stint in a UCLA psychiatric facility
- Reported threat to kill the mother of his three children
- Owed over $1 million in taxes and Citibank $90,000
- Owed his ex-wife’s mom $27,000
- Breached child support obligations
- Fired by several clients
- Quit on five clients since October 2020
- Law firm debt of over $60 million
- Default judgment for $85,000 against Pierce’s firm
- Default judgment for $287,000 against Pierce’s firm
- Money judgment for $ 4 million against Pierce’s firm
- Arbitration award for $3.5 million against Pierce’s firm
- Reported to the California State Bar for alleged witness intimidation in the Rittenhouse case
- Withdrew from a New York case after a challenge to Pierce’s application to practice law in the state.
- Withdrew from a Wisconsin case after a challenge to Pierce’s application to practice law in the state.
- Essentially pilfered $2.5 million from a pay day lender in Flushing, Queens, New York
- Fired by Kyle Rittenhouse
- Accused of trying to secure cash against the Rittenhouse $2 million bond
Pierce also founded a litigation fund – Talon LF, LLC – with his ex-partner Douglas S Curran (BraunHagey & Borden LLP) which has odd representations in investor materials. Interestingly, Pierce’s law firm received mega-millions from litigation funder Virage Capital Management. Virage also funded another lawyer – “He Who Has The Gold, Makes The Rules” – Tallahassee Florida-based Tim Howard, who was charged with fraud by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
In sum, a “Financial Dossier” related to Pierce and his firm is astounding.
The Company You Keep
On top of that all, and there is more, the Kenosha Police essentially accused Pierce of lying under oath. This is perhaps consistent with conduct at a law firm he founded, Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP, a law firm beset by dishonesty. While all of Pierce’s partners quit pre-Rittenhouse, four of his former partners provide illustrative examples of the type of environment Pierce fostered, as well as a window into the type of conduct he apparently finds acceptable.
Each of the four was at Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht when Pierce’s close friend Rudy Giuliani was a client.
From left to right in the photo Denver G. Edwards (Bradford Edwards & Varlack LLP), Christopher N. LaVigne (Withers Bergman, Withers Worldwide), David L. Hecht (Hecht Partners LLP), and Carolynn K. Beck (Goldstein & McClintock LLLP). Pierce’s is on the far right. Rudy is Rudy.
Denver G. Edwards
The ex-Pierce Bainbridge partner is currently a Bradford Edwards & Varlack LLP partner. Edwards lied under oath while at Pierce’s firm. He lied about allegations he said: “if true, amount to criminal activity.“
Christopher N. LaVigne
The former Pierce Bainbridge partner is now with Withers Bergman, Withers Worldwide. LaVigne lied under oath while at Pierce Bainbridge too.
David L. Hecht
The former Pierce Bainbridge New York Office boss is currently with Hecht Partners LLP, a Pierce Bainbridge spin-off firm that has tremendous overlap with the Pierce founded firm. Hecht has been accused of dishonesty by a wide variety of sources; he has also received poor feedback from a federal judge, ex-lawyer colleagues and the media. To top it off, three of Hecht’s former clients said Hecht deceived them into signing up with his firm, as well as a firm that was working with him, Susman Godfrey. In addition, while working with Hecht at Pierce Bainbridge, LaVigne called Hecht an “embarrassment to lawyers everywhere.”
Carolynn K. Beck
The former Pierce Bainbridge General Counsel is now with Goldstein & McClintock LLLP. Beck failed as a leader and is accused of suborning perjury and spearheading a fraud on the court for Pierce Bainbridge.
Client Out of Jail
Will Christopher Worrell get out of jail? Perhaps he will, perhaps he will not. But with his attorney John Pierce’s track record the last few years, it would not be surprising if Pierce is not up to the task.
Indeed, as the bullets illustrate, failure and loss have come in waves for Pierce. In addition, as his tweets illustrate, Pierce’s general credibility is dubious.
Time will tell whether or not the attorney is able to get his client out of jail.
***Check out “My David & Goliath Battle With the Corrupt Law Firm Hired by Rudy Giuliani.“ You can also find me at @DonLew87 on Twitter and Don Lewis-2215 @ Medium
