The global law firm Dentons has won more than $7.4 million in legal fees, expenses and costs for its successful work in a patent suit against the U.S. government, despite having a third-party litigation financing arrangement that Justice Department lawyers said should not have allowed the attorneys to receive any compensation at all.

Dentons successfully sued the government over claims that certain U.S. combat ships violated patents that belonged to the firm’s client, FastShip LLC. The law firm, as part of a deal to proceed with the case in the first place, received an initial payment of $600,000 from a Virginia-based entity called IPCo LLC. FastShip ultimately was awarded $12.36 million in damages.