Look at this.
Now look at this: Biglaw Complaint
Complaint against #biglaw firm WACHTELL, LIPTON, ROSEN & KATZ alleges tens of millions of dollars in improper billing; per Steven Callahan on Linkedin: “multiple 12+ hour timekeeper “strategy” days; multiple 22 hour timekeeper days (including an associate charging $925/hour for 22 hours of “document review”); and lots of time entries (comprising “millions of dollars in hourly billings by Wachtell partners”) with “completely blank time entry descriptions.””
W.T.F.
The concept here is that Wachtell was in with the former management of twitter and figured that they could really gouge the company since it was being sold to Musk:
Then, on the eve of the October 27, 2022 merger closing, with the firm’s work on the
merger litigation in the Delaware Chancery Court already concluded, and without any foreseeable need
for Twitter to utilize its services again, Wachtell and Savitt saw an opportunity to further exploit their
vulnerable client with the assistance of Twitter’s lame duck fiduciaries. Wachtell and Twitter’s directors
and officers understood that because Twitter’s then-shareholders were already locked in at the $54.20
per-share purchase price under the Merger Agreement, the Musk Parties acquiring Twitter would
ultimately foot any fee paid to Wachtell. Wachtell and Twitter’s directors and officers also knew that the
Merger Agreement contained a provision that, in the words of an expert retained by Wachtell in connection with the merger litigation, was drafted to prohibit Twitter executives from agreeing to certain
expenses prior to closing “outside the ordinary course of business in a manner that might ultimately harm
the acquiror.” And, finally, Wachtell fully expected that the Twitter executives who could funnel
gratuitous payments to the firms would soon be terminated, and thus would have little to no motivation
to look out for Twitter’s interests only hours before their anticipated departure.
Notwithstanding all this knowledge, Wachtell proposed to fundamentally alter its
arrangement with Twitter solely to secure compensation beyond the hourly-fee terms that had governed
throughout the engagement. In breach of its fiduciary duties and ethical obligation to its client, and despite
having failed to negotiate a written agreement for a success fee at the outset of its engagement, Wachtell
pressured Twitter’s fiduciaries to sign the Closing Day Letter Agreement and agree to pay Wachtell an
unsubstantiated $90 million total fee that included an unspecified but enormous success fee.
Or in the alleged words of a former twitter board member:
O
My
Freaking
God
(See Biglaw Complaint par. 11.)
Look I don’t know if any of this is true or not, but it wouldn’t surprise me. #biglaw is FAMOUS for stripping clients of as much money as possible. Literally #biglaw is corporate law for profit. I seriously do not understand why state bar organizations allow #biglaw to exist at all. It is absolutely terrible what these folks do.
Now obviously not every #biglaw firm is doing the awful stuff alleged in the Wachtell complaint–assuming even Wachtell did these things– but anyone who has ever used a #biglaw firm knows that the money just seems to disappear. Overstaffing. Inefficiency. And a model where people MUST meet billable hour requirements that are INSANE, even if there isn’t enough work to go around. The pressure to MAKE UP BILLING or just dump hours into cases where lawyers think clients aren’t paying attention is very high.
Its nuts. But.. it is what it is.
Meanwhile your humble Czar worked a legitimate 16 hour day today, and part of it was a great podcast interview with Abbas Kazerounian who was IN STUDIO in the new Troutman Amin, LLP west coast podcast studio.
I know Abbas is a bad guy–he has brought a ton of consumer class litigation over the years and has over 20 lawyers dedicated to filing suits–but he is also a fantastic attorney and a guy I hold in high regard for his legal skills and creative thinking.
We dove into a bunch of fun topics–including cryo baths and AI. but obviously discussing TCPA and CIPA cases was the thrust of the interview.
We also broke down the new FTSA filings, state privacy laws, AI case filings and the FCC’s new advisory on student loan scams, amongst other fun topics.
The way the truth and the light…
So you see the difference between Troutman Amin, LLP–with a team that is always churning and pushing and striving FOR YOU–and the #biglaw mentality of sloth and greed.
Keep your head on straight, my wonderful friends.
And I will see EVERYBODY ON THURSDAY!!!!