Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz’s fee arrangements with clients have long been cloaked in mystery. Over the years, we’ve heard that Wachtell doesn’t charge hourly rates for M&A deals, but the details of its billing structure weren’t widely known.
Now we have an idea. The American Lawyer has obtained what appears to be a standard fee agreement that Wachtell sent a client in 2012. It shows that the firm typically charges fees for M&A deals that range from 1 percent to 0.1 percent of the transaction amount. The fee agreement was signed by CVR Energy Co., an oil refining and fertilizer business headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas. The company paid Wachtell $6 million for a three-month failed takeover defense against corporate raider Carl Icahn, and is now suing Wachtell and two of its partners for malpractice in Manhattan federal court and seeking return of the $6 million. Wachtell maintains that CVR’s claims are meritless.
