Debevoise Dominates Sackler Family Fees Stemming From Opioid Scandal
Purdue Pharma has paid several Big Law firms for their legal work on behalf of Sackler family members, including Debevoise, McDermott and Norton Rose, according to new court documents.
December 17, 2019 at 06:09 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The American Lawyer
Oxycodone is the generic name for a range of opioid painkilling tablets. Photo: Steve Heap/Shutterstock.com
Purdue Pharma, the embattled pharmaceutical company at the center of the opioid crisis, has paid more than $17.5 million in legal fees on behalf of the Sackler family to more than a dozen law firms, according to new documents filed in the company's bankruptcy.
Debevoise & Plimpton was paid the majority of that legal spend—more than $11.4 million—for its legal work for the Sacklers from the first half of 2018 through early 2019, according to an audit filed Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York, where the company is undergoing Chapter 11 restructuring,
Most payments began around the time individual Sackler family members, who have controlled Purdue, were named defendants in various opioid-related litigation.
Debevoise's senior chair, litigation partner and leader of the firm's strategic crisis response and solutions group, Mary Jo White, is representing four family members.
After Debevoise, Joseph Hage Aaronson incurred nearly $4.9 million from early 2018 through early 2019. The firm represents another group of Sackler family members.
Representatives for Debevoise and Joseph Hage Aaronson did not immediately return requests for comment.
Other firms' bills to Purdue on behalf of Sackler family members between 2016 and 2019 include:
- $557,000 to Choate, Hall & Stewart
- $248,000 to Luther Strange and Associates
- $118,000 to Cohen & Gresser
- $89,000 to Parson Behle & Latimer (for former Purdue chairman and president Richard Sackler
- $54,000 to Norton Rose Fulbright
- $47,000 to Cameron Mittleman
- $32,000 to Kelley Jasons McGowan Spinelli Hanna & Reber
- $31,000 to McDermott Will & Emery
- $28,000 to Lum, Drasco & Positan
- $22,000 to Mulinix Goerke & Meyer
- $18,000 to Fitch Law Partners
- $3,000 to Hawkins Parnell & Young
The audit, which was completed by AlixPartners in coordination with Purdue's Chapter 11 proceedings, reports on firms' legal expenses incurred from 2016 through the first quarter of 2019. The audit said all of the legal expenses have since been paid by Purdue on behalf of Sackler family members and notes that payments from Purdue on behalf of the Sackler family ended Feb. 28 of this year. The audit said it did not find any indemnity payments before 2016.
Not all firms that have worked with Purdue and the Sackler family were named in the audit. For instance, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison litigation partner David Bernick is representing another group of Sackler family members in opioid litigation.
On the company side, Davis Polk & Wardwell, led by global restructuring head Marshall Huebner, is guiding Purdue through its Chapter 11, which began Sept. 15. According to the firm's first monthly fee statement, Davis Polk requested $2.5 million in compensation and more than $90,000 in expenses for work in the second half of September.
Read More:
NYC Adds Sackler Family Members as Purdue Pharma Owners to Opioids Lawsuit
NY Judge Allows Opioid Claims to Go Forward Against Sacklers
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