A Massachusetts-based job recruiter said in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan that Simpson Thacher & Bartlett should cough up more than $937,000 for bringing the firm a high-profile lateral from Sullivan & Cromwell.

In November, Simpson Thacher announced it snagged Sullivan & Cromwell bankruptcy and restructuring partner Michael Torkin, one of the few lateral hires Simpson Thacher made in 2017.

According to a suit filed Dec. 28, 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Boston Executive Search Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts, presented Torkin to Simpson Thacher in March and facilitated an initial meeting between them.

From there, Torkin and Simpson Thacher told the recruiter the firm and Torkin would work together to determine if Torkin would be a good fit. The recruiter said it periodically followed up with Sandeep Qusba, head of Simpson Thacher's bankruptcy and restructuring practice, to inquire as to how the meetings were going.

The recruiter alleged that, for the placement, it is entitled to a fee equivalent to 25 percent of Torkin's first-year pay, which Qusba allegedly told the firm would be $3.75 million.

The recruiter said the fee for its services is the standard rate for legal recruiters. It claims the only response it received from Simpson Thacher regarding its fee is that there was no written contract between the firm and recruiter.

Ira Glauber of Dilworth Paxson filed the lawsuit on the recruiter's behalf.

A spokeswoman for Simpson Thacher did not respond to a request for comment.