The clock is ticking on a lucrative piece of work for lawyers at Jones Day, Kirkland & Ellis and Proskauer Rose as the $18 billion bankruptcy of Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s operating arm approaches a possible end, American Lawyer reported today. Combined with Winston & Strawn, whose work for a court-appointed examiner in the case is finished, those four firms have already billed $150 million for their time through September, the latest available report in the U.S. bankruptcy court docket in Chicago. All told, Las Vegas-based Caesars has spent more than $354 million on restructuring professionals and law firms from January 2015 through November 2016. By law, the debtor also pays the legal bills for most of its creditors. Kirkland & Ellis, which represents Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., has billed more than $70 million in the case. Winston & Strawn charged nearly $32 million for its work. Proskauer, which represented a group of unsecured creditors, has billed around $25 million. And Jones Day, going to bat for a group of second-lien junior bondholders, has a tab of roughly $24 million, according to court filings.
A federal judge next Thursday will consider millions of dollars more in payments to attorneys and other professionals working on the bankruptcy of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, MPRNews.org reported yesterday. The latest requests for fees and expenses total $4.5 million. If the requests are granted, that would bring the tab for legal and related professional service costs for the bankruptcy to about $12 million. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy nearly two years ago. The church's most recent reorganization plan would provide $130 million in compensation to clergy abuse victims. A hearing on bankruptcy reorganization plans will be held on Dec. 15.
Finance groups want to bring more consistency to the valuation profession and reduce the number of questions auditors raise about the valuations, the Wall Street Journal reported today. “We want these professionals to better document their assumptions,” Eva Simpson, who is among the managers leading the effort for the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). The groups are developing a new certification program that would require 30 hours of work, depending on experience, and could cost more than $1,000, according to the AICPA. The accounting trade group is collaborating with the American Society of Appraisers and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to work out specifics of the program, which could be announced by the end of the year.
Wall Street bonuses are expected to decline for the third consecutive year, reflecting a period of busted mergers, limited trading activity and muted hedge fund returns, the New York Times reported today. The payouts are projected to be from 5 to 10 percent lower this year, according to an annual report to be released today by Johnson Associates, a compensation consulting firm. Bonuses fell about the same amount last year from 2014. The projection confirms a report last month by the New York State comptroller that said firms set aside 7 percent less for bonuses through the first half of this year compared with last year.
