Broke Brobeck. (Law).

The law firm representing two former Los Angeles partners of Brobeck Phleger & Harrison LLP in a case over lost profits has quit.

John Keker, a partner at Keker & Van Nest LLP in San Francisco, said his firm could not represent Debra Pole, William Fitzgerald and the firm because of a conflict of interest (which he declined to specify) and because the firm has not been paid. The former partners are scheduled for trial April 8 in a case brought by the former partners of Dickson Carlson & Campillo, a dissolved firm whose partners sued Pole and Fitzgerald for $30 million after they took a major client with them to Brobeck.

"It is impossible for the firm to pay counsel in this matter," said James Miller, a former partner at Brobeck, in a declaration filed in L.A. Superior Court in favor of removing Keker & Van Nest. "The firm's counsel is owed approximately $300,000, and we have informed counsel we cannot pay the bill."

Miller, now at Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, declined to comment about the case. Pole and Fitzgerald could not be reached. Paul Murphy, an attorney at O'Neill Lysaght & Sun LLP who represents the former Dickson Carlson partners, said he expects the new lawyers to file motions to delay the trial.

Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at [phone] ext. 225, or at [e-mail].