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Before it spiraled into bankruptcy, LeClairRyan touted its joint venture ULX Partners with alternative legal services provider UnitedLex as a gamechanger and part of its strategy to embody "law firm 2.0." As hundreds of LeClairRyan employees joined ULX, UnitedLex CEO Dan Reed called it "the most disruptive change to the practice and business of law since lawyers began billing their time."

But LeClairRyan was hardly an equal partner in the new venture. As it turns out, its stake in ULX was just 1%, according to a new bankruptcy filing in Virginia court.

It's not clear whether UnitedLex owned the remaining 99% of ULX or whether other investors had ownership stakes in the venture, which was designed to let participant law firms outsource non-legal operations. Emails to representatives of the company weren't returned Friday and Monday.

As the wind-down of the former Am Law 200 firm has moved forward since July, and especially after it filed for bankruptcy Sept. 3, more details have trickled out about its operations, assets and liabilities.

For instance, the firm reported revenues for 2017 and 2018 that are several million dollars lower than what it reported to The American Lawyer. In 2018, according to its bankruptcy papers, its legal services revenues totaled about $111.7 million, compared with $122.5 million reported to American Lawyer. The year before that, in 2017, legal services revenue totaled about $133.7 million, lower than the $142.2 million reported to The American Lawyer.

Gina Passarella, editor-in-chief of American Lawyer, said the publication relies on various sources of information to report law firm financial figures, including efforts to investigate red flags raised by data provided by the firms themselves. "In this instance, while directionally accurate, the gross revenue figures reported by the firm did not match what was reported to the court. It is always our goal to provide the most accurate, deeply reported information to our readers, and we will work even harder to ensure our reporting digs deeper and that our metrics are clearly defined," she said in a statement.

Debt to ULX

In first-day filings, LeClairRyan said it owed $8 million plus interest to ULX under a deferred-fees agreement struck last year, secured by a second-priority lien on LeClairRyan's assets.

Filings in court Thursday contained still more details. The firm said it had at least $21 million in property, $17.5 million of which was accounts receivable, versus $16 million of secured claims and $42 million of unsecured claims, according to its schedules of assets and liabilities, a statement of financial affairs and a statement of equity security holders,

More than half of the secured claims—some $8.6 million—are held by ULX Partners. About $6.8 million is owed to ABL Alliance, a lender with a first-priority lien on LeClairRyan's assets.

In addition to its secured debt, ULX is also among the firm's largest unsecured creditors, owed $3.4 million in that category for unspecified services. Other large unsecured creditors include Gary LeClair, the firm's co-founder, whose $1.9 million claim of stock, interests and dividends is disputed; Proxios, an IT company, owed $1.3 million; K&L Gates, owed $787,666 for an unspecified "trade debt"; and landlords, including Latham & Watkins, which is owed $274,000. K&L Gates declined to comment on the nature of the debt.

LeClairRyan and UnitedLex worked together closely for years before they formed ULX in 2018. About 400 lawyers and support staff moved from LeClairRyan to UnitedLex in 2013, and about 300 more were "rebadged" as part of the creation of ULX. While Reed, UnitedLex's CEO, said he hoped to grow ULX to 10,000 employees in five years, sources told the American Lawyer that layoffs took place at ULX in October 2018.

Hunton Andrews Kurth continues to represent LeClairyRyan in its ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. The firm on Thursday sought court approval for $296,000 in fees. Hourly fees ranged from $427 for an associate admitted to the bar in 2015 to $883 for Tyler Brown, a partner who has spent more than 139 hours on the case, with a blended rate of $669 an hour.