The infamous legal firm Sullivan & Cromwell is reportedly on course to make a fortune as a result of its work on the bankruptcy case involving the FTX bitcoin exchange, as stated in a recently published article.
According to a report from Bloomberg Law dated January 27, the expenditures incurred by Sullivan & Cromwell in the FTX case are anticipated to reach hundreds of millions of dollars by the conclusion of the firm’s bankruptcy inquiry.
The FTX case will start in October 2023. Thus, attorneys at the firm have eight months to solve the complicated FTX matter. It will require a large investment of time and money. More than 150 employees are now working on the FTX case at Sullivan & Cromwell, including 30 partners who charge more than $2,000 per hour for their services. A court filing states that associates charge up to $1,500 an hour for their services.
Sullivan & Cromwell said in a document filed with the court that its proposed costs are competitive with the market rates charged by other major law firms, and that these fees actually constitute a reduction when compared to the rates charged for cases that are not related to bankruptcy.
The crypto winter of 2022 saw a substantial increase in bankruptcy filings. Some of these were filed by large cryptocurrency companies like Voyager Digital, Celsius Network and Genesis Global Trading. This led to a high demand of bankruptcy professionals.
Jonathan Lipson, a Temple University professor of law, says that attorneys will likely do exceptionally well in cases such as FTX “much like the professionals have done well in other significant cases.” FTX is a case where lawyers should do well. One example is the New York City-based legal firm Weil Gotshal. It earned over $500 Million in fees from the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008.
