Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Michael D. Hausfeld, now the former chairman of Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll in Washington, returned to his office after a meeting Nov. 6 to find a notice on his chair telling him he'd been voted out of the law firm.

Hausfeld, 62, is a class-action attorney whose clients have included Holocaust survivors suing Swiss banks, cigarette smokers claiming they were defrauded by tobacco companies and native Alaskans with claims arising from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. According to the note, he was forced out in a vote of the firm's other partners that morning, he said.

``Pretty cold,'' Hausfeld, who in 1971 joined the firm that later became Cohen Milstein, said today in a phone interview.

The move, which Cohen Milstein partner Joe Sellers said followed months of conflict between Hausfeld and other partners, forces a split in the 71-lawyer firm as attorneys decide whether to stay or follow Hausfeld out the door.

``This was a proper way to give him notice under the partnership agreement,'' Sellers said. ``It's hard to believe he viewed this as a shock.''

Partners also sent Hausfeld an e-mail, Sellers said. Hausfeld said he was out of the office negotiating a settlement when the vote was taken.

Cohen Milstein has been designated as one of the lead law firms in an employment discrimination class action, or group lawsuit, against Wal-Mart Stores Inc., securities litigation against Lucent Technologies and antitrust suits over vitamins and domestic air travel, according to the firm's Web site.

Negotiating Cases

Sellers said Cohen Milstein is negotiating which cases Hausfeld, who was head of the firm's antitrust and international practices, will take with him.

Hausfeld is working temporarily in the offices of Washington's Venable law firm. He said many of Cohen Milstein's clients have said they will follow him to his new firm, Hausfeld LLP, which he expects to staff with 25 to 30 lawyers, many of them from Cohen Milstein's 28-lawyer antitrust group.

The new Hausfeld firm will focus on international human rights, antitrust law, environmental law, product liability and securities law, he said.

Sellers said some Cohen Milstein antitrust lawyers had resigned. Several others, including partners, have said they will stay, Sellers said.

``We are not by any means losing our capacity to practice antitrust,'' Sellers said.

As of today, the Cohen Milstein Web site still included ``Hausfeld'' as part of the firm name. And while he is no longer on the list of attorneys on the site, the list appeared under a smiling portrait of Hausfeld with his former partners Herbert Milstein and Steven Toll.

To contact the reporters on this story: Bob Van Voris in New York at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net; Cynthia Cotts in New York at ccotts@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 10, 2008 21:59 EST