'They treat me like a thug'

It's not official yet, but Seymour Lazar, a former Milberg Weiss client accused of receiving illegal kickbacks, appears ready to cop a plea. His lawyers wouldn’t offer details during a session in federal court in L.A. Lazar, himself a lawyer, was indicted last year in connection with an alleged scheme in which MW would give big money in exchange for serving as name plaintiffs in class actions. Lazar is quite the character – he worked with Melvin Belli and Marvin Mitchelson, hung out with Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary, and sued his father's estate after he was disinherited him. One time, he sued Hertz for overcharging him for gas. He's nearing 80 and recovering from triple-bypass surgery, which makes you wonder whether he’ll see any jail time (likely not). Here's how the WSJ described him in a 2006 profile:

"I swear, they treat me like an absolute thug. I'm not supposed to leave the house," fumed Mr. Lazar during a recent extended interview, his first since the indictment. "Did I hurt anybody? Who did I cheat? Did anybody get screwed?" He added testily: "What they want me to do is hang Milberg Weiss. They don't care about me." Frail and slightly stooped, Mr. Lazar spends his days shuffling about his Mediterranean-style home in the posh Las Palmas district of Palm Springs. During a lengthy discussion, held in part over lunch on his bougainvillea-draped patio, Mr. Lazar cast himself as a pawn caught between the Bush administration and powerful, corporate class-action attorneys. He did not argue the facts of the government's indictment. Instead, he contested the conclusion that his actions were illegal.