Patton Boggs firm defends role reversal in Chevron pollution case [USA/Ecuador]
…Patton Boggs is defending a decision to distance itself from former Ecuadorian clients, villagers who for years have fought for the enforcement of a multibillion-dollar environmental court order against Chevron…Chevron announced…that Patton Boggs would pay $15 million to resolve its claims that the law firm tried to enforce the Ecuadoreans'…judgment…despite knowing it was obtained through fraudulent means…Patton Boggs's reversal was immediately denounced by the…lawyer for the villagers, Steven Donziger,…who called the…settlement "unethical" and "a violation of attorney-client privilege,"…[T]he law firm's general counsel…said any suggestion that Patton Boggs had agreed to turn over privileged documents as part of the settlement was "completely untrue."…[and] clients would be given notice and an opportunity to raise any necessary privilege issues" in the discovery process…We believe everything we did in this settlement was ethical,"…