By Casey Sullivan
NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The wind-down team of defunct
law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf revealed the identities of partners
participating in a proposed $71.5 million settlement on Thursday
night, and disclosed how much money each partner had agreed to
pay.
Lawyers who agreed to contribute the most to the settlement
included Berge Setrakian, a corporate lawyer now at DLA Piper,
who pledged $3.5 million; and white-collar defense lawyer Ralph
Ferrara, the firm's former vice chairman now with Proskauer
Rose, who agreed to pay $3.36 million.
Morton Pierce, another former vice chairman of Dewey, now
with White & Case, is slated to pay $1.02 million. Pierce, a
prominent mergers and acquisitions lawyer, had been the chairman
of Dewey Ballantine, which merged in 2007 with LeBoeuf, Lamb,
Greene & MacRae in 2007.
Other top lawyers at Dewey participating in the settlement
include Martin Bienenstock, Dewey's former bankruptcy head now
also at Proskauer, who agreed to pay $643,000. Richard Shutran,
Dewey's former corporate head who moved to O'Melveny & Myers, is
slated to contribute $665,000.
The list names 444 former partners accepting the settlement,
which is slightly lower than previously reported. Out of the 444
former partners, 56 of them have agreed to pay the minimum
allowed in the settlement, which is $5,000.
Three former Dewey executives excluded from the settlement
including former chairman Steven Davis challenged the deal
earlier this month, objecting to the fact that the identities of
partners participating in the settlement were kept confidential.
The executives were left out of the settlement because they
are considered to be the most culpable in Dewey's demise, a
member of Dewey's unsecured creditors committee said Thursday.
The executives said they needed the names of the settling
partners in order to prepare for their defenses.
The disclosure of the identities came as U.S. Bankruptcy
Judge Martin Glenn considered the $71.5 million settlement
proposal.
The former Dewey partners named in this story did not
immediately return a request for comment.
The case is In re Dewey & LeBoeuf, U.S. Bankruptcy Court,
Southern District of New York, No. 12-12321.
For Dewey: Al Togut and Lara Sheikh of Togut Segal & Segal.
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