A month ago, during a conference with attorneys, Delaware ChancellorAndre Bouchard ruled that all bills charged from the law firm of Skadden Arps to TransPerfect must include detailed time records. Here we are a month later, folks, and my sources and the court-docket all tell me: No itemized bills in sight! This, even though Skadden was “ordered” to provide the bills in October.
Outrageous!!! In my mind, it would be nice for Skadden to have the ex-Skadden Chancellor in their pocket?!?
You’ll see from the Delaware Business Now story from last month below, that Bouchard allowed the company to finally see itemized bills of Robert Pincus from his firm Skadden Arps… at least that’s what we thought?!
It’s turning out, in my opinion, Bouchard might be creating another appearance of an impropriety by not enforcing his own court order? He wrote an order that gave lip-service to integrity and public scrutiny of Skadden’s bills, but as of now, it all appears to be yet another misrepresentation from Chancellor Bouchard?
As I see it, folks, the Constitution’s requirement of open courts is toilet paper in Bouchard’s Chancery Court. What a disgrace!
You have to ask yourself — when the defendant is not allowed to see the invoices — what is the Judge trying to hide? In my opinion, how do you not ask yourself if you’re in this case, is this fraud and court-sanctioned theft?
My understanding is that TransPerfect is still being billed from $50,000 to $150,000 each month, nearly two years after the custodian resigned. From my perspective, it is prudent to consider that Bouchard and the Good Ole Boys in Delaware have possibly not decided to stop scratching each other’s backs and using their powers and connections to loot the coffers of companies like TransPerfect. Perhaps we all should think about this again!
More to come on this story. See the Delaware Business Now story below and you’ll see that we’re all still waiting for these bills to be seen!
Let me know your thoughts! As always, your feedback is welcome and appreciated.
Chancellor orders law firm to include invoices in TransPerfect bills
By Delaware Business Now – October 21, 2019
Delaware Chancellor Andre Bouchard has ruled that all bills from the law firm of Skadden Arps must include a detailed invoice.
The ruling came during a conference with attorneys. Bouchard had earlier fined TransPerfect $30,000 a day for not paying bills.
The translation services company is withdrawing a suit file in Nevada, its state of incorporation.
The case included celebrity attorney Alan Dershowitz who was a member of TransPerfect’s legal team.
“TransPerfect’s victory today was a major win for transparency and openness in the Delaware courts. Skadden’s billing, which remained hidden for too long, will now be subject to some level of review,” stated TransPerfect owner Philip Shawe.
Shawe has locked horns with Bouchard in a long-running dispute over the sale of the company. Shawe prevailed in the case, which led to 50 percent owner Elizabeth Elting selling her stake in the company to Shawe.
Skadden Arps is involved because its lawyer Robert Pincus was named by Chancery as the custodian for the sale of TransPerfect and recommended that Shawe buy out Elting. Chancery signed off on his decision, which was also upheld by the state Supreme Court.
The state of incorporation for TransPerfect was later moved from Delaware to Nevada.
TransPerfect attorney Martin Russo said, “I am very happy that the court finally has agreed to give us the tools to ensure the company is treated fairly. It seems that the eyes of the Nevada court on the matter may have had some positive effect.”
