Coleman joins Freshfields from Dewey & LeBoeuf, where he was a partner in the firm’s litigation department and co-chair of the white collar criminal defense and investigations practice group. He is a former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and he also served eight years with the U.S. Department of Justice, where he played key roles in several notable corporate fraud cases, including the investigation of Enron Corp.

Fishman is a former partner and commercial litigator at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel. He represents financial institutions in federal and state courts throughout the U.S., in arbitrations and in regulatory proceedings.

Stuart is formerly a partner at Vinson & Elkins. He focuses his practice on securities and complex financial litigation at both the state and federal level.

Freshfields has more than 2,700 lawyers practicing in 27 locations around the world.

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Given a long-established principle that lawyers working in receivership situations should be awarded moderate fees, “the request for fees of $2,147,666 for 20 days of work is excessive,” said US District Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan.

Lawyers, paralegals and staff at New York’s Dewey & LeBoeuf logged over 5,500 hours on the WexTrust case, or more than 275 hours a day.

Chin determined that the law firm should receive $1.7 million for the work performed between August 11th and 31st. Dewey & LeBoeuf may apply for the difference between what it sought and what he awarded when the final distribution of WexTrust assets is made.

The law firm’s request was part of a joint application for compensation by Timothy Coleman, the court-appointed receiver for WexTrust and a partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf.

Chin approved the full amount of Coleman’s request for $57,300 in receiver’s fees. Coleman’s hourly rate had been cut to $250 specifically for the WexTrust case, from his standard rate of $850 to $950. The judge also approved a request of $66,640 in fees for the accounting and advisory firm Deloitte Financial Advisory Services.

Chicago-based WexTrust and two of its owners, Joseph Shereshevsky and Steven Byers, were charged by the SEC with defrauding investors by diverting $100 million of funds to unauthorized uses. Afterward, the court froze the defendants’ assets and appointed Coleman as WexTrust’s receiver.

Via PilotOnline.

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