%1

Lawyers asked a U.S. District Court overseeing the commonwealth’s bankruptcy case to approve $75 million in funds for legal and consulting fees and another $2 million in expenses, the Washington Post reported. And that covers May 3 through Sept. 30, the first five months of the case. Another five months have passed since then. One of the biggest bills came from firms working for the federal oversight board — charged by Congress with monitoring and imposing fiscal discipline on Puerto Rico. Judge Laura Taylor Swain, the federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy case, approved less than $50 million of the charges and is still reviewing the rest. But she warned the lawyers that the restructuring of Puerto Rico’s $72 billion in debt was in its “infant” stages. Swain said the people of Puerto Rico could not afford to spend “billions of dollars” on fees and added that the lawyers should come up with ways to keep legal costs under control. Read more. 

The people of Puerto Rico need your help. Thousands are still without regular power service, and many more need to rebuild their homes. Please join the ABI Endowment and the Mariano Rivera foundation for a charity benefit for Puerto Rico on April 4, 2018, at the New York Athletic Club. 

David Cassidy‘s estate is being sued by multiple Florida lawyers who claim the late actor owes them money, People has reported. Cassidy’s trustee and personal representative of his estate recently filed paperwork objecting to two claims: One filed by law firm Rodier & Rodier, and one filed by lawyer Damaso W. Saavedra. Rodier & Rodier claims Cassidy owes $102,834 for legal services, and Saavedra claims he owes $19,006.02. Rodier & Rodier reportedly sued Cassidy in 2013, but his 2015 chapter 11 bankruptcy filing put their pending lawsuit on hold. According to The Blast, his bankruptcy was dismissed, but his debt was not discharged.

Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., one of America’s biggest gaming companies, will pay more than $160 million to a half-dozen firms for their services during its nearly three-year stay in chapter 11 that ended in October, the American Lawyer reported. The final bills, made available in a summary court filing on Tuesday, still require approval from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Benjamin Goldgar of the Northern District of Illinois. The payments to outside firms have slowed within the past year as the bankruptcy drew to a close, as previously reported by the American Lawyer. The biggest winner in the bankruptcy that shed roughly $10 billion in Caesars’ corporate debt is Kirkland & Ellis, which billed for $76.9 million in fees in its role as lead counsel to the company. Winston & Strawn, which last year wrapped up its work as legal counsel for examiner Richard Davis, billed a total of $30.6 million. Davis, a former Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner and member of the Watergate Special Prosecution, was investigating whether the parent company of Caesars stripped the operating company of profitable assets before it filed for bankruptcy. That report said Caesars could be liable for up to $5 billion in damages for the reshuffling, although a deal was struck to avoid litigation on that front. Proskauer Rose billed $28.7 million in legal fees representing a committee of unsecured creditors. Jones Day billed another $25.1 million for its work on behalf of a group of second-lien junior bondholders.