BigLaw firm faces questions over $35M bill

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BigLaw agency faces questions over $35M invoice

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BigLaw agency faces questions over $35M invoice

By Amanda Robert

April 10, 2026, 8:30 am CDT

Brazilian billionaire Alberto Safra is difficult a $35 million invoice from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, which included fees from one companion who mentioned he labored greater than 19 hours in sooner or later.

Safra, who was represented by Wilmer in a dispute over his deceased father Joseph Safra’s $23 billion fortune, requested that London’s Excessive Courtroom assess a number of of the agency’s invoices in 2024, in response to Legislation.com. The court docket reportedly heard that Wilmer charged Safra greater than $162,000 in sooner or later, with its prime companions billing $2,095 an hour. This was $265 extra per hour than Safra agreed to earlier within the case.

In his March 24 ruling, Choose Colum Charles Leonard mentioned “all through all the invoices, there are fees that are so excessive as to boost concern.” He particularly referenced Washington D.C. companion John Trenor’s fees for 19.3 hours in sooner or later in addition to one other 24-hour interval wherein 9 charge earners billed for 130.2 hours.

The choose additionally identified that Wilmer initiated two charge will increase with out notifying Safra. He mentioned this elevated the hourly charges of the agency’s attorneys by 14%.

“Price will increase could also be commonplace, however in circumstances the place the agreed charges had been already so excessive, the necessity to elevate them additional (so rapidly, and by a lot) requires a proof,” Leonard mentioned.

Whereas Leonard acknowledged that Wilmer’s group “labored extraordinarily laborious, beneath substantial stress, to assist the claimant obtain his targets” and that its lengthy hours “are commensurate with the dimensions of labor,” he ordered a full evaluation of the legislation agency’s invoice.

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