Our first runners-up this week are lawyers at Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll who got final approval last week of a $1 billion settlement with Wells Fargo & Co. in securities litigation accusing the bank of misleading investors about reforms in the wake of Wells Fargo’s 2016 fake accounts scandal. As part of the deal, one of the 20 largest shareholder settlements of all-time, the firms were awarded $180 million, or 18% of the settlement, in attorney fees. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon in Manhattan approved the deal at a hearing last week, noting that the fee was warranted since the case didn’t involve SEC or DOJ action, and the company made no restatements. The Bernstein Litowitz team in court at the fairness hearing included Max Berger, John Browne, Jonathan Uslaner and David Duncan. The Cohen Milstein team included Laura Posner, Steven Toll and Molly Bowen.
A team led by A. Thompson Bayliss of Abrams & Bayliss and Margaret Allen, Angela Zambrano, Yolanda Garcia and Rob Hochman of Sidley Austin gets runners-up honors for securing a win from the Delaware Supreme Court for client XRI Investment Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Morgan Stanley Energy Partners. Last week the state’s high court, sitting en banc, affirmed XRI’s breach of contract win against firm co-founder Gregory Holifield and reversed a lower court decision finding the company was precluded from seeking damages from Holifield or recovery of legal fees advanced to him. Bayliss argued the appeal for XRI. The team also included Sidley counsel Robin Wechkin and Abrams & Bayliss associate Eric Veres.
