I just received a report of a $103 million compensatory damages verdict today in the Circuit Court of Jones County against a Texas law firm for legal malpractice. The law firm allegedly represented both sides of a transaction, disregarded the instructions of the plaintiff and caused the plaintiff (a millionaire) to lose almost everything.

Eric Tiebauer of Waynesboro reportedly represents the plaintiff. I will have more information as it becomes available.

10:00 p.m. Update: New info. on this massive verdict is being posted in the comments section. The style of the case was Evans v. Baker & McKenzie, which is one of the largest law firms in the world with over 3,000 lawyers. The largest group of lawyers appear to be in the Chicago office.

Michael J. Shemper of Hattiesburg and Laurence E. Best and Peter S. Koeppel of Best Koeppel, New Orleans, for Cross-Plaintiffs, Laredo Energy Holdings, LLC, and its subsidiaries, obtained $22.4 M of that verdict for their clients.

The newly released Mississippi Jury Verdict Reporter will report on the verdict and I will post more information as I get it.

6:00 p.m. Saturday update: The Baker & McKenzie lawyer who was the defendant in the case has been identified as Joel Held in the firm’s Dallas office. The firm’s web site states that Mr. Held is a 1964 graduate of the Boston University law school and lists the focus of his practice as:

Mr. Held regularly represents securities issuers and individuals and a variety of broker dealers in investigations, enforcement matters, regulatory issues, litigation and compliance matters. He also handles private litigation, particularly those involving securities class action defense and securities-related matters. Additionally, Mr. Held provides sound counsel on public offerings, private placements, mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buy-outs, reorganizations, other types of business combinations, formations and transactions, as well as joint ventures and partnerships.