Overview
The Am Law Litigation Daily has named Brian Heberlig and Reid Weingarten “Litigators of the Week.” The pair was recognized in an article published March 30 for securing a Rule 29 judgment in favor of Richard Ireland, acquitting him of 79 counts of honest services bribery and money laundering. In issuing his decision, Judge John Jones of the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania concluded that no rational jury could have convicted Mr. Ireland based on the evidence presented at trial, even taken in the light most favorable to the government.
This marks the second time that Messrs. Heberlig and Weingarten have been recognized together as Litigators of the Week. In June 2015, they were selected after securing a complete defense acquittal for David Rainey, the highest-ranking BP executive charged in the fatal 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Mr. Weingarten was also recognized as Litigator of the Week in May 2011 after scoring another Rule 29 win. In that case, he secured a full acquittal mid-trial for a former GlaxoSmithKline associate general counsel accused in the off-label promotion of an anti-depressant.
More recently, Mr. Weingarten was named Litigator of the Week in July 2016 for convincing a federal court jury to toss all 14 felony charges brought by the government against two former medical device company executives.
More coverage of the Rule 29 win in Pennsylvania can be read at the following:
Associated Press
Law360 (subscription required)
The Legal Intelligencer (subscription required)
The Philadelphia Inquirer
