Last year, New York-based Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton raked in $4.3 million for helping Iraq balance its books. And though its paycheck this year stands to be significantly less, the past five years have been good ones for the small band of lawyers handling much of the country’s $130 billion in debt.
Cleary Gottlieb partner Lee C. Buchheit and four other attorneys have brought in about $20 million in fees and disbursements since they took on the task of dealing with the wide variety of claims against Iraq for debt that Saddam Hussein amassed during his reign.
