William Marcoux is being sued by Dewey & LeBoeuf. According to the American Lawyer, this could very well be the first in a series of suits. The Dewey estate has made legal moves against former partner William Marcoux in efforts to recover millions in compensation paid out to Marcoux.
The Dewey Estate is looking to claw back the bonuses and salary that Marcoux received after the firm became insolvent, and they claim that the insolvency began in 2009. At that time Marcoux opted to not bother joining the $70 million settlement finalized by the defunct firm’s estate a year ago. Doing so would have insulated him against such litigation.
Alan Jacobs is the trustee of the bankrupt Dewey estate. He has the role of taking the firm’s assets and liquidating them. He now seeks almost $4 million in partner distributions back from Marcoux going back into his compensations as far as 2009. According to Jacobs, the firm was insolvent for the past four years, yet Marcoux was paid millions.
The suit claims that Dewey was unable to pay its bills since 2009. Because Marcoux and other partners did not sign the “partner contribution plan” it is possible that any targeted partners may be liable. The suit says, “Despite the debtor’s insolvency and inability to pay creditors, it nevertheless transferred tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars as ‘distributions’ to its partners. Interestingly, Marcoux feels that not only is the trustee of the Dewey estate absolutely wrong about him having to give back his compensation, but rather that the Dewey Estate owes him more money than he was given.