A DLA Piper partner claims he faked $69,000 in expenses because he had a terrible work-life balance.

Lee Smolen was forced to resign from his old firm, Sidley Austin, after staff noticed that he was using cover-up tape to alter his taxi receipts. At his hearing before the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, a former colleague said the alarm was raised when they discovered he was billing his main client, bank Wells Fargo, incredible amounts in disbursements for everything from steak dinners to gift vouchers.

A reportedly "subdued and terse" Smolen told the commission that he falsified his expenses only to offset other, genuine costs without creating more paperwork. Smolen claimed he was billing over 3,300 hours a year and "was trying to achieve a work-life balance after I had missed my children's lives”.

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Despite all that, Smolen was snapped up by DLA after leaving Sidley Austin. The firm may have been attracted by his claim that he raked in $18 million a year running Sidley's Chicago real estate practice. Although he might be worth slightly less now since, as he has admitted that Wells Fargo has now stopped giving him instructions.

No doubt DLA will be understanding if its master forger is forced to put his feet up for a couple of years, although it is already dealing with a partner on corruption charges. At least Smolen's secretary will get a break from holding invoices up to the light.

A DLA Piper spokeswoman told RollOnFriday, "We have great respect for the ARDC and its process, and do not think it is appropriate to comment during the course of this matter".
 
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Comments

Anonymous 04 July 14 10:06

billing over 3,300 a year? On the basis that there are 365 working days in the year (a direct quote from a silverringpiece partner), that's more than 9 hrs every single day. How did he find time to have the children whose lives he subsequently missed?!

Anonymous 04 July 14 12:19

366 in a leap year. Perfectly feasible to work and bill 3,600 hours. Just not for long.

Anonymous 04 July 14 15:05

At which point did he realise he was missing his children's lives? Aged 1? 5? 10? 18 and left for uni? No sympathy for this bloke, it was his choice "chasing the dream"