Lawyers, accountants seek big fees in Rothstein bankruptcy
Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
March 12, 2010
Sun-Sentinel.com
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-rothstein-fees-20100312,0,7112423.story
Attorneys and accountants for the court trustee in the messy bankruptcy of Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein’s collapsed law firm have asked a judge to authorize nearly $2.2 million in fees for less than three months’ work.

More than $1.2 million of the fees were billed by Berger Singerman, a South Florida law firm.

“It is a significant amount of money, and there will be significant legal fees that will continue to accrue. There is a massive amount of work,” said firm partner and bankruptcy expert Paul Singerman.

Others that asked for large initial fees in the case last week: Miami accounting firm Berkowitz Dick Pollack & Brant ($611,640) and Miami law firm Genovese Joblove & Battista ($324,805).

Each of the firms has agreed to accept much less now than they claim they are owed — 65 percent less in Berger Singerman’s case — because there’s not enough money in the bankruptcy estate of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. If their requests are approved, they would be entitled to receive that money later if funds are recovered.

Singerman said he did not know how much cash and assets were currently in RRA’s bankruptcy estate. He declined to speculate about how high his firm’s fees might go.

Fort Lauderdale U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Raymond B. Ray has set a 10-minute hearing on April 7 to consider whether to approve the fees.

RRA collapsed in November. On Dec. 1, federal agents arrested Rothstein on charges of running a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme out of RRA’s offices in the Bank of America building in downtown Fort Lauderdale. He pleaded guilty in January and is cooperating, but faces decades in prison when he is sentenced in May.

The lawyers and accountants were hired by Chapter 11 trustee Herbert Stettin to recover money for Rothstein’s victims and other creditors.

The firms filed hundreds of pages of detailed billing sheets and other paperwork.

The paperwork shows that 19 lawyers with Berger Singerman billed for the case — most at rates in excess of $400 an hour. Six Berger Singerman lawyers billed upward of $500 an hour.

The highest rate — $560 an hour — was billed by Singerman and colleague Charles Lichtman.

Singerman is co-chief executive officer of the firm along with partner Mitchell W. Berger, a former member of President Bill Clinton’s transition team in 1992-93 and a senior adviser to Al Gore during his 2000 presidential campaign.

Lichtman, a fraud specialist, was lead counsel for Florida Democrats during the 2008 election. Before that, he served as special lead counsel in Florida for John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, and co-lead counsel for the Democratic Party in the 2000 presidential election recount.

In addition to the lawyers, 13 paraprofessionals at the firm billed hourly rates of $185 to $195.

In all, the firm reported that during the case’s first 12 weeks its employees billed a total of 3,468.5 hours at an average hourly rate of $354.90

Berger Singerman’s application to the court for fees goes into great detail about the firm’s legal work. It says much of what was done the first three months involved “exploring and developing the claims that the trustee plans to bring in the near future.”

“Although much of this background work has not yet resulted in substantial litigation recoveries, this preparatory work is essential in a case of this nature and magnitude.”

One of those cases, seeking more than $1 million, was filed Wednesday against Rothstein’s wife, Kim.

Accountants at Berkowitz Dick Pollack & Brant told the court the $611,000 they seek reflects an average hourly rate of $222 for 2,749 hours. The Genovese law firm reported working 804.5 hours at an average rate of $404 an hour.

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