Texas law firm Jackson Walker said in court documents yesterday that its former partner Elizabeth Freeman lied about her romantic relationship with David R. Jones, a bankruptcy judge who was presiding over cases in which Freeman was billing hours, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Jackson Walker began to investigate the matter after a shareholder involved in one of the bankruptcy cases alleged in March 2021 that Freeman and Jones were in a romantic relationship, the law firm said. At the time, it also immediately notified the Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court, the firm said. The filings were in response to a recent request made by the U.S. Trustee Program, urging the court to reverse prior orders awarding about $13 million in legal fees to Jackson Walker for its work in more than two dozen chapter 11 cases before Jones, including about $1 million in fees billed by Freeman. In a court filing Monday, Jackson Walker provided an email exchange from August 2021, in which Freeman said that she agreed with a draft letter prepared by the law firm that stated she and Jones were “close personal friends” stemming from when they worked together at another law firm, and “there has been no romantic relationship since prior to the time in March 2020 when COVID caused so many of us to shift to remote work and virtual-only meetings.” Freeman “confirmed that there is no current romantic relationship between herself and Judge Jones and that none is expected going forward,” the letter that she agreed to said. “They’re throwing her under the bus,” said Nancy Rapoport, a law professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who specializes in bankruptcy ethics, adding she thinks Jackson Walker still has more questions to answer. “Didn’t they know from any independent means that she might be lying?”
