When celebrity lawyer Marc Dreier was arrested in Canada, the press was left wondering what the charges were. A Toronto police spokesman cleared it up—

Basically what they are is that he impersonated himself as someone else and not himself.

Self-impersonation is not a crime—yet. But I worry about that. What is a person with multiple personalities to do, we wonder?

In any event, Dreier showed up at a meeting of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan claiming to be someone else. Then the real person showed up. No word yet on the gender of the impersonated, but I'm hoping wigs were involved.

Leaping from the frying pan into the cookie jar, there are now allegations that millions are missing from the escrow accounts of Dreier LLP—the accounts that lawyers hold in trust on behalf of someone else.

Dreier is the sole owner of a firm employing some 250 lawyers. He explained this unusual arrangement last year: "This is a system for lawyers who believe democracy is overrated -- or at least that it is in business. Under this alternative model, all policy decisions ultimately reside with the single equity partner." The prosecution may remind him of that in court, and the lawyers cleaning out their desks may be pondering the disadvantages of the "alternative model."

It's going to be a sad Christmas in lawyerville. Above the Law reports that "The firm may not be able to make its next payroll, on December 15. There is only $300,000 in the payroll account, and the next payroll is for $2.6 million."

The annual Christmas party at the Waldorf has been canceled.

Follow-up post
Prison Procedure of the Day: Determining gang status (12/16/08)

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