David Boies’ law firm, which resigned as counsel to Greenwood Village-based Adelphia Communications Corp. in August after discovering a conflict of interest, is seeking $32 million for its work on the cable operator’s bankruptcy case.
The firm, Boies, Schiller & Flexner, is asking to be paid roughly $30 million in fees and $2 million in expenses for more than 103,000 hours of work from June 2002 through August. The request needs approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.
“The firm’s services have been substantial, necessary and beneficial to the debtor, creditors, and other parties in interest,” Boies Schiller said in an application to the court.
The Armonk, N.Y.-based law firm resigned when it was revealed that relatives of David Boies, the firm’s chairman, indirectly own part of Amici LLC, which stores and manages Adelphia’s bankruptcy documents, according to court documents.
An attorney for the Bank of Montreal, an Adelphia creditor, raised the Amici connection in court on July 26.
The law firm advised Adelphia about investigations by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm also advised the cable operator on litigation with Adelphia founder John Rigas and his family.
The latest application to the court, filed Monday, says the firm worked 55,589 hours for which it’s owed $16.7 million from March 2004 through Aug. 12, an average of about $300 an hour.
Boies Schiller was previously paid $4 million in Adelphia funds for work completed before the bankruptcy filing.
Adelphia filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2002. The bankruptcy followed an accounting fraud orchestrated by Rigas and his son, Timothy. They were convicted in July 2004 of conspiracy and securities fraud.
Boies Schiller has represented a number of companies hurt by corporate wrongdoing in recent years, including Adelphia and Tyco International Ltd., whose former chief executive and former finance chief were convicted of fraud and larceny in June.
