Last month, when the New York Law Journal ran a front page article about Debevoise & Plimpton ‘s suit against a former client for $6 million in unpaid legal bills, the NYLJ‘s Nate Raymond astutely noted the risks associated with such a move. “If I were advising any law firm, I would tell them suing a client over fees is a no-win situation,” John Marquess, president of Legal Cost Control, told Raymond. “It’s going to get you adverse publicity you may or may not recover from. And if it went before a jury, juries hate lawyers.”
Marquess’s point about adverse publicity has turned out to be prescient. On Wednesday morning, Debevoise’s erstwhile client, Candlewood Timber Group, filed an answer and counterclaims (pdf) against Debevoise, seeking damages of $55 million. And some of Candlewood’s allegations about its former law firm aren’t very flattering.
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