The New York Law Journal reports that some of the hedge fund legal malpractice action against Akin Gump have been dismissed.

"A New York state judge has granted Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s motion to dismiss several claims filed against it by a former hedge fund client, but has permitted a fraud claim to go forward.

In February, James McBride and Kevin Larson, the principals behind the Veras series of funds, sued Akin Gump for $4.4 billion, claiming the firm advised them that the trading of mutual fund shares after the market close was a legal practice.

The funds, which had $1 billion in assets in 2003, were then investigated for "late trading" by the New York attorney general’s office and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Veras wound up paying more than $36 million in penalties before shutting down.

McBride and Larson each paid $750,000 and were barred from the industry. Their lawsuit had asserted 11 causes of action against Akin Gump, but Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried ruled Thursday in Veras v. Akin Gump that five of the causes of action, including negligence, negligent misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duty, were duplicative of Veras’ legal malpractice claims.

The judge permitted Veras to proceed, however, with a claim that Akin Gump committed fraud by concealing conflicts "