As The American Lawyer reports in Gone But Not Forgotten, bankrupt law firms don’t go away quietly. Indeed, those responsible for unwinding such firmsand collecting as much as possible for creditorsoften target the law firms where failed firm partners land in order to recover the proceeds from unfinished business those partners took with them. A search of public bankruptcy dockets shows that more than 40 law firms have settled claims with the bankrupt estates of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison; Coudert Brothers; Heller Ehrman; Howrey; and Thelen. To date, those settlements total more than $35.5 million.
This chart shows the amounts paid by individual firms in connection with those five bankruptcies, as well as the dates when the settlements were finalized. Click on dollar figure for an individual settlement to see the court filing detailing that settlement. Ross Todd
| BROBECK, PHLEGER & HARRISON | ||
| Settling party | Date | Total amount |
| Morgan, Lewis & Bockius | September 2004 | $10,200,000 |
| Clifford Chance | December 2004 | $5,500,000 |
| Estate of Heller Ehrman | August 2011 | $470,988 |
| Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe | April 2011 | ”a substantial, confidential amount” |
| Dorsey & Whitney | March 2011 | ”a substantial, confidential amount” |
| COUDERT BROTHERS | ||
| Settling party | Date | Total amount |
| Baker & McKenzie | July 2010 | $6,650,000 |
| HELLER EHRMAN | ||
| Settling party | Date | Total amount |
| Covington & Burling | July 2011 | $4,996,213* |
| Arnold & Porter; Cooley; Hafetz Necheles & Rocco; Hogan Lovells US; Patton Boggs; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman; Proskauer Rose; Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr | September 2011 | $2,256,146 |
| Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe | December 2009 | $1.5 million plus a portion of certain contingency fees* |
| Sidley Austin | April 2011 | $500,000 |
| Goodwin Procter | October 2011 | $350,000 |
| Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton | October 2011 | $337,844 |
| Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher | December 2011 | $240,850 |
| White & Case | January 2011 | $17,500 |
| HOWREY | ||
| Settling party | Date | Total amount |
| Perkins Coie | September 2012 | $618,743 |
| THELEN | ||
| Settling party | Date | Total amount |
| Butzel Long; Davis Wright Tremaine; LeClairRyan; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius; Ober|Kaler;Sedgwick | March 2012 | $703,336 |
| Reed Smith; Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear | September 2012 | $610,000 |
| Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman; Hartman & Craven; Holland & Knight; DLA Piper | June 2012 | $412,663 |
| Alston & Bird; Baker & Hostetler; Dergosits & Noah; K&L Gates; McDermott Will & Emery; Meserve, Mumper & Hughes; OMelveny & Myers; Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perrett; Troutman Sanders; Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati | February 2012 | $200,750 |
