Allan Diamond, the trustee overseeing the liquidation of the Howrey estate, said Friday that he had reached a pair of what he called "monumental" multimillion-dollar settlements with Baker & Hostetler and Citibank that will help pay off nearly all the defunct firm's remaining bank debt, making it more likely that former employees and other creditors will get at least some of what they are owed, and increase the potential for a bankruptcy exit.
Baker & Hostetler, which hired 11 former antitrust partners from Howrey amid that firm's collapse in early 2011, agreed to pay the Howrey estate $41 million in cash, according to court filings [PDF]. Nearly the entire sum—$38 million—comes from attorney fee awards recovered from settlements in a massive antitrust case that the former Howrey partners filed on behalf of dairy farmers while at their own firm and took with them when they joined Baker & Hostetler.
