UPDATE 2-US lawyer pleads guilty to filing false expenses

(Updates with law firm comment, adds byline)

By Emily Chasan

NEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - A former partner in a New York law firm pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to stealing at least $200,000 from his firm and clients by filing false expense reports.

"Between 2002 and 2005, I wrongfully charged personal expenses as business expenses," Samuel A. Fishman, a former corporate partner at Latham & Watkins, told U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan.

"I'm very sorry for what I did," Fishman added.

Fishman, who at the hearing told the court he has bipolar disorder, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.

The government had accused Fishman of mischaracterizing personal meals and parking fees as other types of business expenses, such as photo-copying and express mail.

"Our firm discovered the issues relating to Mr. Fishman in 2005, immediately acted to protect our clients fully, and disclosed the matter to appropriate law enforcement authorities," David Gordon, Latham & Watkins' New York Office Managing Partner said in a statement. "Mr. Fishman resigned from the firm at the time the issues were discovered. Since that time, we have cooperated fully with the investigation."

Fishman once chaired the firm's mergers and acquisitions group and venture and technology group.

Fishman is scheduled to be sentenced on June 27. Mail fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, but Fishman is likely to face far less after making a plea agreement with the federal prosecutor.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service helped in the investigation. (Reporting by Emily Chasan; editing by John Wallace, Gary Hill)