Including information about his associates
June 14, 1999
Liberty Lobby bankruptcy attorney Paul Pearlstein filed a motion on June 8 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Washington, DC, to withdraw from representing Liberty Lobby. Previously, Pearlstein had written a letter to Willis Carto, CEO and Treasurer of Liberty Lobby, Inc.,
advising that he needed to withdraw, and recommending that Liberty Lobby retain new counsel.
In the motion, Pearlstein cites [s]ignificant and apparently insoluble differences between counsel and Willis A. Carto, CEO of the corporation
that have caused counsel to file this motion.
Pearlstein further states that [t]hese problems have been building over time, but they have been exacerbated in recent weeks.
Two days before filing this motion, had Pearlstein received a letter from Mark Lane in which Lane threatened, If you do make a motion to withdraw at this moment … I can assure you that our client has determined that there will be serious repercussions, including a complaint to Bar Counsel and a lawsuit for malpractice.
Since Pearlstein filed his motion — which he would not have had to do if he had been fired by Liberty Lobby — Carto has been overheard telling others that he fired Pearlstein.