New York newspapers don”t generally inform the public about civil trials.  The Madison Record regularly reports on civil cases, and from them we get this story:

"Brad Lakin didn’t know that a federal judge in Oklahoma entered default judgment of about $4 million against his firm until he read about it in a newspaper, according to Gail Renshaw of the Lakin firm.

Renshaw moved June 6 to stay collection proceedings on the Oklahoma judgment in U.S. District Court at East St. Louis.

In April the Oklahoma court awarded $3,752,601.80 to former Lakin client Stephen Williams.

Williams claimed that James Gibson, an investor the Lakins recommended, stole most of the proceeds of his injury settlement.

On May 29, Williams asked the court in East St. Louis to examine Brad Lakin about his assets on an expedited basis.

According to Renshaw, Lakin read about the judgment May 30.

She did not identify the source, writing that he read it in "a local Southern Illinois newspaper."

The Madison County Record reported the judgment on its website that day. "