Benton's bankruptcy brings in the big bucks
Oren Benton's bankruptcy squashed more than a few entrepreneurs, but it seemed to single-handedly boost a group of Denver bankruptcy specialists.
The deconstruction of the diversified empire built on uranium trading employed perhaps hundreds of bankruptcy attorneys. In all, the lawyers, accountants and various consultants brought in roughly $17 million over about two and half years, some posting rates as high as $391 an hour.
The bankruptcy, one of the few large Chapter 11s in recent years, toppled one of the state's emerging billionaires.
I never did get an exact figure on how much Benton actually owed, but it ranged between $500 million to $1.5 billion, although the high end seems highly unlikely. One estimate placed his assets between $133.5 million and $193 million.
The creditors' committee eventually pushed Benton into liquidating his assets to pay his debts. Benton's estate, including a 23 percent stake in the Colorado Rockies and shares in Ramtron International, are currently being prepped for sale by a trustee.
The big earners include:
- Price Waterhouse, charged with unraveling Benton's complex, almost Byzantine collection of companies and holding entities, posted the largest bills. The Big Six firm should collect $6.6 million for its work.
The accountants also had the largest reduction in their bills, seeing requests cut by more than $550,000 by the fee-reduction committee.
- LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, led by Carl "Spike" Eklund, is slated to get more than $4.9 million in fees and expenses for its work representing the creditors' committee.
- Lindquist, Vennum & Christensen, Oren Benton's primary counsel, requested nearly $2 million for fees and expenses for its work, led by Craig Christensen.
- The Blackstone Group, financial advisers to the creditors' committee, was approved for $1.4 million.
- Thompson & Knight, the special tax litigators who helped Benton, received more than $713,000 for helping sort out - and reduce - the
$278 million claim by the Internal Revenue Service to $30 million.
- Holden & Jessop, attorneys for Energy Fuels Ltd. and Energy Fuels Exploration Co., had bills totaling $655,000.
- Rubner & Kutner was OK'd for $556,000 for representing Nuexco Trading Corp.
Going partners with dad
When Beth Nesis contemplated starting her own practice, she got a little shove from her father. Then she added his name to the letterhead.
She began her legal career with a clerkship followed by two years as an associate with Holland & Hart, but her father pressed her to go out on her own.
"He was always saying, 'What are you afraid of? You should do this,"' Nesis said.
She left the state's largest firm with modest expectations, but quickly found greater challenges - and more money - on her own. Then she found her dad, an estate-planning and commercial-transactions specialist with more than 40 years of experience in New York and Beverly Hills.
The commercial litigator formed Nesis & Nesis with her father Joseph Nesis after a year as a sole practitioner.
"There is just a certain wisdom," she said. The elder Nesis splits his time between the Boulder office and his office in Beverly Hills.
Though their styles and work habits are different - she has more stamina while he brings a practical approach to problems - Nesis said the differences have been complementary rather than contradictory.
Plus, "He's not here all the time," she said. "That makes it much, much easier."
Legal briefs ...
Davis, Graham & Stubbs elected Gale Miller as chairman of the 91-lawyer firm. Miller, an antitrust specialist and pro bono advocate, replaces Chuck Kaiser for a two-year term ... Hall & Evans has created the Brooke Wunnicke Scholarship at the University of Colorado School of Law in honor of the notable attorney ... Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison has added Cameron Kenyon and Paul Washington as associates in its Denver office ... Holme Roberts & Owen has added Elizabeth Brown, a partner, and Deanna Zallen, an associate, to its bankruptcy practice group ... Josiah Hatch III has joined Freeborn & Peters as a partner, and Marcy Heronimus has been hired as an associate.
Ian Olgeirson can be reached at 837-3527 or via e-mail at IOlgeirson@aol.com. |
