Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP will pay a Chapter 11 administrator $165,000 to settle claims that it improperly squeezed a $2.7 million price break from Coudert Brothers LLP for Chinese business licenses before the defunct law firm plunged into bankruptcy in 2006, a Manhattan federal judge heard Wednesday.
The pennies-on-the-dollar deal before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon came on the morning of a single-day bench trial that was supposed to sort out the 2010 lawsuit brought by plan administrator Development Specialists Inc.
The settlement ends Judge McMahon’s role in adjudicating the Coudert administrator’s claims against 13 law firms that made their way out of bankruptcy court. But doesn’t close out the bankruptcy docket.
The administrator is represented by David J. Adler of McCarter & English LLP.