The Chapter 11 plan administrator for defunct law firm Coudert Brothers LLP said Monday in New York federal court that Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP took advantage of Coudert’s perilous financial problems to secure a sweetheart deal for the bygone firm’s valuable Chinese business licenses.
Plan administrator Development Specialists Inc. argued in a trial brief that Orrick should be required to pay $2.7 million plus interest to recoup value Coudert lost in the deal. The filing comes days after Orrick attacked the administrator’s case, which is over the sale of offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai shortly before Coudert filed for bankruptcy in 2006.
The administrator is represented by David J. Adler of McCarter & English LLP.