Law Firm’s Staggering $44 Million Contingency Fee Reduced to $2 Million

By order of the New York State Appellate Division, the firm Graubard Miller must reduce the fees owed by AliceLawrence’s estate from $44 million to around $2 million.

Before her death, Alice Lawrence, the widow of commercialreal estate mogul Sylvan Lawrence, hired Graubard Miller to represent her in anepic court battle against the executor of her husband’s estate.  The firm later convinced 80-year-oldLawrence to rework a new deal whereby the firm would receive a 40% contingencyfee instead of Lawrence paying by the hour.

After negotiating a $111 million settlement, Lawrence owedthe firm $44 million, roughly $11,000 an hour. Because Graubard Miller failed to show that Lawrence fully knew andunderstood the terms of the new deal, the court “found that Lawrence’s estateshould be charged the old hourly rate, which would add up to about a $1.7million bill” and perhaps another $1.3 million in interest.

See DarehGregorian, State Appellate Judge Rules$11G per Hour a Bit Steep in Billionaire Estate Case, New York Daily News,May 24, 2013; see also Joseph Ax, Firm’s $44 mln Fee Request from Late WidowReduced Again, Thomson Reuters, May 23, 2013.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.