U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon on Thursday ruled that Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Jones Day and Dechert LLP are among 10 law firms that must account for profits they made from Coudert Brothers LLP's unfinished business, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Coudert filed for chapter 11 protection in September 2006. The plan administrator sued the firms in 2008 in bankruptcy court claiming they were liable for any profits derived from completing client matters that former Coudert partners brought to their new homes. The firms argued that the doctrine did not apply as the matters were billed hourly and not taken on contingency. "Although the New York Court of Appeals has not addressed this precise issue, I believe that it would conclude that the method by which the client matters were billed does not alter the nature of Coudert's property interest in them," Judge McMahon said in her ruling.
