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The judge in Energy Future Holdings' (EFH) bankruptcy case recently approved the latest interim professional fee applications totaling more than $77 million, which were presented to the court by the numerous professional firms involved in the litigation, Texas Lawyer reported yesterday. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher S. Sontchi approved the omnibus order awarding the interim allowance of certain professional fees and expenses. Originally filed on April 29, 2014, Texas-based EFH's mega-case involves an army of attorneys and other professionals. Judge Sontchi recently granted the interim allowance of compensation for services rendered and reimbursement of expenses largely, but not exclusively, for the fourth interim fee periods. His recent order gave a sizeable boost to the total professional fees and expenses that EFH has been ordered to pay during the bankruptcy.

Philadelphia law firm Blank Rome LLP is hiring roughly 100 lawyers from Dickstein Shapiro LLP, a once-stalwart Washington, D.C., law firm that has been on shaky ground for years, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The deal, which includes lawyers in New York and D.C., will create a law firm with more than 620 attorneys in 13 U.S. offices and in Shanghai. The combination doesn’t include Dickstein’s Los Angeles office. The announcement, made yesterday, comes after weeks of defections from Dickstein, which dropped in size from around 350 lawyers a few years ago to less than 120 as of this month. Recent departures include Dickstein’s entire Connecticut office, which moved its practice to Holland & Knight LLP.

Hundreds of dollars in car-service charges, meals costing $50 a head and overly expensive copying charges are among the expenses that a government watchdog is targeting in supermarket operator A&P’s bankruptcy case, the Wall Street Journal reported today. U.S. Trustee William K. Harrington recently filed court papers raising questions about thousands of dollars in expenses that several law and consulting firms incurred for their work on A&P’s liquidation. Charges must be “reasonable,” Harrington points out, and detailed explanations must be provided to help the judge and others evaluate the bills rather than forcing the judge and others to embark “on a treasure hunt” for crucial information. The trustee questions 17 pages’ worth of fees and expenses charged by A&P’s lead bankruptcy lawyers at Weil, Gotshal & Manges that he says lack detail, would be considered overhead and lack substantiation, among other causes for concern.