(photo by David Lat)
A lawsuit has been filed against a former partner at noted Biglaw firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. The case, filed by Transperfect Global Inc., involves a dispute over the legal fees racked up by Robert B. Pincus, who was a partner at Skadden at the time of the representation.
In 2015 Pincus was appointed the tiebreaking director of Transperfect after a Delaware court ruled co-founders Liz Elting and Phil Shawe were not capable of running it together (their business relationship soured after their romantic one fizzled). As a result, the company was forced into a modified auction where Shawe bought Elting out.
Now Transperfect is disputing the legal bills in the matter, which ranged from $58,000 to $90,000 a month. As reported by Big Law Business, the redacted filing complains over the tasks that were done, that the fee request was granted without Transpect having an opportunity to review it, and that they don’t have access to the particulars of the legal work done:
Those bills contained misrepresentations, including a request covering time spent as a witness that’s “not properly chargeable to the custodianship,” Transperfect says.
The judge “unwittingly” granted Pincus’s fee requests without realizing Transperfect hadn’t seen them, the suit says.
Because those reports were filed under seal, Transperfect doesn’t have specific information about what work was done, who did it, how long it took, or what the hourly rate was, the Aug. 12 complaint claims. Absent that information, the company can’t “assess the reasonableness of the amount of fees,” it says.
Neither Skadden nor Pincus have commented on the ongoing litigation.
Read the redacted complaint below.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).