Swiss settlement attorneys deny cheating their clients

The other law firms are said to be seeking 2 percent of the settlement.

Survivor organizations, excluded from virtually every aspect of the negotiations, have been badly misinformed on the question of fees, the two speakers said.

At a meeting with officials of the World Jewish Congress three weeks ago, the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors endorsed, although without a vote, a resolution assailing the payment of fees to the attorneys.

"While we fully support and agree with the principle of expense reimbursement to the attorneys involved, the awarding of legal fees is simply incomprehensible to survivors since it comes from the very assets stolen from us under circumstances which have no historical precedent," the resolution stated.

The lawyers countered that about 40 attorneys have spent more than two years of "intensive" work preparing the lawsuits, which were first filed in October 1996. They also noted that survivors had hired lawyers specifically because they did not have confidence in Jewish organizations.

The World Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Restitution Organization "come with a lot of baggage," attorney Mel Weiss said at the panel.

"A lot of victims just don't trust them," Weiss added. "The diplomatic efforts had failed miserably... A lot of people weren't happy with the job they hadn't done."

Weiss is involved in class-action suits against Ford and German banks and industry for use of slave labor during World War II. He also defended the legal action as a superior vehicle to the efforts of the WJC, because a lawsuit settlement could provide the companies with protection against any claims in the future.

"They want freedom, once and forever," Weiss said. "We can give that. The WJC can't."

U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman, whose Brooklyn court is overseeing the settlement, must approve all requests for legal fees.