Practice Finance
BigLaw firm faces questions over $35M bill
Brazilian billionaire Alberto Safra is challenging a $35 million bill from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
Brazilian billionaire Alberto Safra is challenging a $35 million bill from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, which included charges from one partner who said he worked more than 19 hours in one day.
Safra, who was represented by Wilmer in a dispute over his deceased father Joseph Safra’s $23 billion fortune, requested that London’s High Court assess several of the firm’s invoices in 2024, according to Law.com. The court reportedly heard that Wilmer charged Safra more than $162,000 in one day, with its top partners billing $2,095 an hour. This was $265 more per hour than Safra agreed to earlier in the case.
In his March 24 ruling, Judge Colum Charles Leonard said “throughout all of the invoices, there are charges which are so high as to raise concern.” He specifically referenced Washington D.C. partner John Trenor’s charges for 19.3 hours in one day as well as another 24-hour period in which nine fee earners billed for 130.2 hours.
The judge also pointed out that Wilmer initiated two rate increases without notifying Safra. He said this increased the hourly rates of the firm’s attorneys by 14%.
“Rate increases may be commonplace, but in circumstances where the agreed rates were already so high, the need to raise them further (so quickly, and by so much) calls for an explanation,” Leonard said.
While Leonard acknowledged that Wilmer’s team “worked extremely hard, under substantial pressure, to help the claimant achieve his goals” and that its long hours “are commensurate with the scale of work,” he ordered a full assessment of the law firm’s bill.
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