Reply #2: From the Courthouse News Service. Serious stuff.

[madfloridian]

"Claimants should be told Feinberg was hired by and is paid through BP, Sherman wrote. He says this would help claimants determine for themselves whether Feinberg's statement that claimants are better off not litigating may be influenced by Feinberg's contract with BP."

..."Sherman claims the monthly $850,000 "fee arrangement" between BP and Feinberg's law firm, Feinberg Rozen LP, "contrasts with the usual method of payment of special masters, who are paid on an hourly basis according to the prevailing market rates in the community."
Citing BP's hiring of lawyers to work at its facility to field claims, Sherman wrote that "having a defendant pay for representation of claimants against it is far from the best way to insure legal representation, and raises questions about the adversaries of attorneys who counsel claimants about whether to accept an offer."

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/01/25/33591.htm