Lawyers losing out:
Cooley, one of the fastest-growing firms in the Am Law 100, is owed a collective $1.57 million in fees from Implant Sciences Corp. and Sotera Wireless Inc., two companies that filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware and San Diego, respectively. A Cooley spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment on the matter.
Implant Sciences, a sensor-maker also doing business as IMX Acquisition Corp., slipped into bankruptcy on Oct. 10 in Wilmington, Delaware. According to a list of the company’s 30 largest unsecured creditors, it owes $847,131 to Cooley’s San Francisco office. The firm, which has handled litigation work for Implant Sciences, is the debtor’s largest unsecured creditor.
Other firms appearing on Implant Sciences’ list of unsecured creditors are New York’s Ellenoff Grossman & Schole ($298,194) and Goulston & Storrs ($90,000). Securities filings show that Goulston & Storrs has done corporate work for Implant Sciences, as has Ellenoff Grossman, which bankruptcy court filings show has served as outside corporate counsel to the debtor since March 2015.
Ellenoff Grossman is serving as special corporate counsel to Implant Sciences in its bankruptcy case, with partners billing between $500 to $595 per hour, counsel and special counsel billing between $450 to $525 and associates at rates ranging from $300 to $475. A declaration by Ellenoff Grossman corporate partner Richard Anslow states that his firm has agreed to a monthly retainer of $6,000 to handle general corporate and securities matters. He claims the firm is also owed “$346,430.15 for all professional services, expenses and disbursements rendered to” Implant Sciences prior to its Chapter 11 petition.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Delaware’s Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor are serving as bankruptcy counsel to Implant Sciences. Court filings show that Willkie partners and of counsel are billing between $995 and $1,425 per hour, while associates have hourly rates ranging from $330 to $965. A declaration by Willkie business restructuring partner Paul Shalhoub, who is billing $1,350 per hour, states that his firm received more than $1.05 million from Implant Sciences the period prior to its Chapter 11 case. (Young Conaway partner Matthew Lunn and counsel Donald Bowman Jr. are billing $625 and $530 per hour, respectively, and the firm has so far received $123,690.78 for its services to the debtor.)
Implant Sciences, which saw its name come up in another business bankruptcy that made headlines Wednesday, has agreed to sell its assets for $117.3 million in cash to New York-based L-3 Communications Corp. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Delaware’s Richards, Layton & Finger are advising L-3 on the matter.
