Bankruptcy Law

Dreier Art Could Go on the Auction Block

The trustee liquidating the New York law firm owned by once high-flying lawyer Marc Dreier is seeking permission to auction 81 pieces of art formerly displayed there. The pieces of art include three Matisse prints, five Warhol screen prints, a Jasper Johns screen print, and several pieces by minimalist painter…

Sep 10, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Drop in Business Bankruptcies Creates BigLaw Slowdown

Business bankruptcies are down 4 percent in the first six months of the year, and that’s translating to a bit of a slowdown for law firms once inundated with restructuring work during the height of the economic meltdown. Most partners interviewed by the New York Law Journal said they have…

Sep 8, 2010 3:43 PM CDT

Madoff Clients Balk at Trustee’s $34M Tab

Former investment clients of Bernard Madoff are challenging the $34 million bill submitted by his bankruptcy trustee, Baker Hostetler partner Irving Picard. The August 20 statement bills for services between Feb. 1 and May 31, according to the New York Post. According to Madoff investors, who made the Manhattan Bankruptcy…

Sep 3, 2010 2:26 PM CDT

Bankruptcy Lawyer Bills $950/Hour, Finds Out-of-Office Work Can Be Productive

William Lobel retired from Irell & Manella in 2008. But now the 67-year-old Southern California lawyer has a new gig—running his own law firm. At $950 per billable hour, he is perhaps the most expensive bankruptcy lawyer in the area, according to the Orange County Register. But that doesn’t mean…

Aug 23, 2010 11:05 AM CDT

Appeals Court Upholds Chicago Lawyer’s Bankruptcy Fraud Conviction

A federal appeals court has upheld the bankruptcy fraud conviction of a suspended Chicago lawyer who billed clients for work he never did or that his paralegal performed. Thomas O’Connell Holstein, who operated a firm called Lawline, has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison on nine…

Aug 20, 2010 4:44 PM CDT

Bankruptcy Lawyers Predict Upcoming ‘Debt Wall’

Top bankruptcy lawyers are in a pessimistic mood about the economy, which could be a positive for their business. Speaking at a roundtable discussion last month, the experts warned of trillions of dollars in debt coming due, according to the Wall Street Journal blog Bankruptcy Beat. Businesses that can’t refinance…

Aug 11, 2010 3:52 PM CDT

Lawsuit Blames Accounting Firm for $450M in Bankrupt Rothstein Law Firm Losses

A lawsuit seeking $450 million has been filed against an accounting firm that worked with the now-bankrupt South Florida law firm formerly operated by now-convicted Ponzi schemer and ex-attorney Scott Rothstein. A trustee overseeing the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler bankruptcy contends in the suit, among other allegations, that Berenfeld Spritzer Schechter…

Aug 5, 2010 9:53 PM CDT

Ex-Kaye Scholer Partner Indicted in Bankruptcy Fraud Case

A former partner of Kaye Scholer has been indicted for bankruptcy fraud for not disclosing his involvement with a major creditor before he left the law firm in 2005. Stephen Garcia, now 48, allegedly failed to disclose, as required, his considerable involvement with New York City-based Albert Fried & Co.,…

Aug 5, 2010 6:36 PM CDT

Examiner’s Report Goes Easy on Brown Rudnick for Botched Redaction

The law firm Brown Rudnick is unlikely to face serious sanctions for botching an attempt to keep confidential information out of a complaint filed on behalf of some creditors in the Chicago Tribune’s bankruptcy proceedings. A report filed by bankruptcy examiner Kenneth Klee concludes it is “implausible” that Brown Rudnick…

Aug 4, 2010 12:30 PM CDT

Ex-BigLaw Associate Faces Ethics Case Over Alleged Nonpayment of $78K Student Loan

A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School who was being paid over $200,000 a year as an associate at DLA Piper in 2009 is facing a legal ethics complaint that alleges he failed to pay his guaranteed student loan debt. Olufemi Nicol, 42, is accused of bad-faith avoidance…

Jul 29, 2010 9:14 PM CDT

Lewis Brisbois Can’t Use SLAPP Law as Shield Against Ex-Client’s Malpractice Suit

A law firm known for its insurance expertise has arguably now made a bad situation worse–twice–by litigating insurance-related issues. Sued for malpractice by ex-client Kmart Corp., Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith invoked the protection of a California civil rights statute, contending that its effort to seek a declaratory judgment on…

Jul 22, 2010 8:35 PM CDT

Law Firm Must Pay Ex-Client Legal Fees & Punitives for Filing Bad-Faith Bankruptcy Petition

Finding that a law firm made a bad-faith involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in an effort to force an ex-client to abandon meritorious counterclaims in a fee-dispute case, a federal bankruptcy judge has dismissed the petition and awarded an as-yet-undetermined amount of attorney’s fees and punitive damages to the ex-client.…

Jul 21, 2010 5:38 PM CDT

Does Bankruptcy Put a Gay Website’s Teen User Info Into Creditors’ Hands?

An effort by bankruptcy creditors to obtain the one valuable asset of a dying website—its database of information about 1 million subscribers and users—is raising privacy concerns both in the United States and abroad. Because the website is for XY Magazine, whose focus is on young men and teenage boys…

Jul 14, 2010 12:27 AM CDT

Mortgage Default Rates Highest Among the Rich

Wealthy homeowners are more likely to default on mortgage payments than suburban middle and working classes. More than one in seven homeowners with loans in excess of a million dollars is seriously delinquent, reports the New York Times. In contrast, about one in 12 mortgage holders below the million-dollar mark…

Jul 9, 2010 3:34 PM CDT

Rosenfeldt Takes 5th re Depo Questions About His Pay at Rothstein Law Firm

Stuart Rosenfeldt was a co-partner of Scott Rothstein in the now-shuttered Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. But he essentially knew nothing about the South Florida law firm’s financial operations, Rosenfeldt said in a deposition today, according to the This Just In blog of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Paid $6 million in 2008…

Jul 2, 2010 10:06 PM CDT