How much work does it take to bring a law firm into bankruptcy? In the case of Law Firm Giant Dewey, seeking Chapter 11 is a full time job, with the firm seeing as much work as some small firms could only hope for. Their most recent move is seeking a return of $5.7 million paid to the Bank of America for several law firms, that Dewey paid out when they were already insolvent. Such funds are expected to go back to the pool that is being fed to their creditors, and they are expected to recover 5 to 14 cents per dollar of debt, with secured creditors receiving between 47 and 77 cents on the dollar.
Among the moneys they hope to see returned include $268,707 paid to Shook Hardy & Bacon in March 2012, $297,016 paid to Cook Vetter Doerhoff & Landwehr, $30,523 paid to Allen & Overy, and a host of others.
The preference actions aim to show that Dewey did not give favorable treatment to particular vendors before going under – the way, say, in the game of Monopoly a person about to lose might cut sweet deals with the player he prefers to win. As Am Law Daily reports, Minnesota lawyer Joseph Steinfeld filed these suits Friday on behalf of liquidation trustee Alan Jacobs, and it is only the “first wave of such litigation.”
The endless litigation to tie up loose ends has all the drag of a badly written novel, which resorts to a 300 page appendix to make it all wrap up. In this, the suit against the Bank of America is the biggest target for Dewey, with a sum of $3.9 million sought. The wrap up drags on, and is full time business for a few lawyers, whose legal finesse has all the propriety and sanctimoniousness of an undertaker. Making it all look good before it finally dies requires exacting work.