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Female partners earned an average of $659,000 annually compared with an average of $949,000 for male partners, according to the latest survey of big-firm partners released on Wednesday by the legal search firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, the New York Times reported today. The survey, which queried 2,100 partners at law firms nationwide, found that average compensation for partners over all was $877,000, which was 22 percent higher than two years ago. “We asked partners to pinpoint the factors underlying the pay differences,” said Jeffrey A. Lowe, who heads Major, Lindsey’s law firm business, “and the No. 1 factor was origination,” or who receives credit for bringing a legal matter to the firm.

Takata Corp., whose defective airbag inflators triggered the biggest recall in auto industry history, hired law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP to help it weigh options that could include bankruptcy or a sale, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The Japanese manufacturer might choose to seek court protection just for its U.S. unit, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. No final decisions have been made and Tokyo-based Takata continues to seek buyers, the people said. Takata is evaluating at least five bids as it confronts the potentially massive cost of recalling 100 million faulty airbag inflators worldwide and lawsuits tied to at least 16 deaths and numerous injuries. The airbags tend to degrade over time and erupt, sending shrapnel through the vehicle’s cabin.

The legal bill for Caesars Entertainment Operating Co.’s year-and-a-half-long battle with creditors has come in at $301.3 million, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The casino company disclosed the cost in a bankruptcy court filing on Friday, days after announcing a settlement that will bring peace to the $18 billion restructuring. The fees and expenses, which Caesars paid between the date of its Jan. 15, 2015, bankruptcy filing through Aug. 31, 2016, have gone to the roughly two dozen law, investment-banking, consulting and other professional firms on its chapter 11 payroll. The chapter 11 case of CEOC, the operating unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp., has been a battle from the start, when a group of junior bondholders, including hedge funds Appaloosa Management LP and Oaktree Capital Management LP, sought to force CEOC into involuntary bankruptcy.

Puerto Rico, which triggered the biggest default in the municipal-bond market by skipping nearly $1 billion of debt payments in July, is set to pay Millstein & Co. as much as $8.4 million in the next year to provide outside restructuring advice, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The commonwealth extended its contract with Millco Advisors LP, an affiliate of Washington, D.C.-based Millstein, through June 30, 2017, according to a review of the agreement provided by the island’s Office of the Comptroller. The commonwealth’s Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority is set to pay the firm as much as $8.4 million, according to the contract. Millstein has been advising Puerto Rico since February 2014 on how the commonwealth and its agencies can reduce its $70 billion of debt and has been negotiating on the island’s behalf with creditors. A seven-member federal control board will begin overseeing any restructuring of Puerto Rico’s obligations and help end its reliance on deficit borrowing to fill budget gaps. President Barack Obama in June enacted PROMESA to create the control panel and establish a framework allowing the commonwealth to reduce its debt load. Millstein has a separate $3 million contract with Puerto Rico that runs through December and would compensate the firm if a restructuring deal is finalized.