Biglaw

Weil Gotshal Benchslapped Over Fee Request

Law firm thought it deserved big bucks for its work. The judge disagreed.

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smack slap benchslap benchslapsWeil Gotshal got some good news earlier, learning that the Chinese hackers who breached the firm are going to have to pay up. Hopefully that will salve the pain they suffered on Tuesday, when Bankruptcy Judge Anita Shodeen laid down the hammer on Weil Gotshal for requesting, we don’t want to say “unreasonable” fees, but Judge Shodeen already called them that, so what the hell!

From Law360 (sub. req.):

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Anita L. Shodeen ripped into the firm’s $976,000 request for fees for its representation of TCTM Financial FS, Wellman’s senior secured lender, during the months of September and October of last year.

Calling “overstated” the firm’s portrayal of the bankruptcy case as “overly complex,” the judge rued Weil’s billing rates, the number of attorneys assigned and its lack of specificity in billing entries, trimming its fees to $488,452 while denying about $32,200 in additional costs.

“Based simply upon the number of attorneys and hours billed leads to the inherent conclusion that there was a distinct lack of billing judgment exercised by Weil in its representation of TCTM,” Judge Shodeen wrote in her 14-page order.

Apparently “we’ll get you and mangle you” applies to diaries as well.

“By any measure the fees requested in Weil’s motion are staggering,” Judge Shodeen said. “An oversecured creditor is certainly entitled to determine the level of services it wants provided in any given bankruptcy case. Whether such fees were sensibly incurred is another matter.”

She noted that of the 35 motions filed by the firm between Sept. 13 and Oct. 31, most were “applications seeking employment of professionals or requests to appear pro hac vice.”

She pointed out that multiple attorneys were assigned for telephonic attorneys although the use of recordings and transcripts made that effort seem duplicative. She also questioned why many attorneys were used for “ministerial tasks” such as gathering and providing documents to local counsel in the case, when paralegals were much cheaper for such routine work.

It’s always fantastic when a Biglaw firm finds itself in Iowa. Weil should consider themselves lucky they won’t have to do any form of public shaming. It feels like only yesterday when Judge Mark Bennett ordered Jones Day to make a video apologizing for discovery abuses. The Eighth Circuit cruelly reversed that sanction, but firms should have considered the message sent.

The overlawyering that we take for granted in the Acela corridor doesn’t hit the ear the same way in most of the country.

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Weil’s High Fees Bid In Bankruptcy Case Gets Bench Slap [Law360 (sub. req.)]
Iowa Bankruptcy Judge Scolds Weil Gotshal Over High Fees [WSJ Law Blog]

Earlier: Biglaw Firm Ordered To Make A Video Apologizing For Discovery Abuses

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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