Law.Comreports that :"As Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw readies for potential claims arising out of its representation of failed commodities brokerage Refco, the Chicago law firm’s work for another bankrupt company has already triggered a $17 million suit against it.

The bankruptcy trustee for defunct health care management company CMGT Inc. has sued its former lawyers at Mayer Brown for failing to challenge lawsuits brought against the company by its former financial adviser, Gerry Spehar. According to the trustee, the unopposed litigation crippled the company and handed Spehar a $17 million default judgment.

But Mayer Brown claims the trustee’s suit is part of a scheme by none other than Spehar, who it claims is financing the case in the hopes of turning a worthless default judgment based on meritless and speculative damages claims into a $17 million windfall. In court papers, the firm has denounced the suit as a "perversion of the civil and bankruptcy systems."

However, one man’s worthless default judgment based on meritless and speculative damges, is another’s diamond.