Dewey Docket: Fighting Over the Bones

There could be some fireworks Monday afternoon in federal bankruptcy court in lower Manhattan.

The team winding down the defunct law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP is expected to square off against the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog and lawyers for the firm’s unsecured creditors over whether quite so many professionals are needed to liquidate the firm.

Essentially, everybody is fighting over the remains of the carcass of what was one of New York’s biggest law firms.

At its height, Dewey had some 1,300 lawyers and offices around the world. After a wave of partner departures this year over heavy debt and compensation disputes, the firm sought bankruptcy protection in May and owes more than $315 million to lenders and others.

Now a skeleton crew is trying to collect on the firm’s outstanding bills while the wind-down team, headed by bankruptcy lawyer Albert Togut, negotiates a settlement with former partners over money they were paid in the months leading up to the Chapter 11 filing. (Some more news may emerge on that front on Wednesday, when ex-partners are scheduled to meet with Dewey’s estate to discuss particulars of the plan, according to two former partners.)

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