Jury selection is expected to begin in the trial of a US attorney and others accused of helping to boost his client list for litigation related to the BP oil spill.
According to reports, Mikal Watts as well as two non-attorney members of his law firm and four contract field workers are going on trial in federal court in Mississippi.
The trial is expected to take between six and 10 weeks.
But he planned a short first day in court for the 70 to 80 prospective jurors.
They were to fill out a questionnaire and then get the rest of the day off while government and defense lawyers review the questionnaires. Attorneys have said that should help them whittle down the numbers as quickly as possible.
The accused are alleged to have invented victims of the 2010 oil spill in a bid to land Watts a lucrative spot on the BP litigation steering committee and inflate legal fees he may have collected.
Watts and those also involved have maintained they are innocent.