Intelsat’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reconstruction looks certain to go on well into 2022 before all the elements are wrapped up. Meanwhile, the lawyers acting for Intelsat have 118 staff members employed – in some degree or other – on the litigation.

In a comprehensive 870-page filing into Intelsat’s bankruptcy court on November 1st the lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Kirkland & Ellis International LLP (K&E) made their application for fees from June 1st to August 31st to be approved.

Intelsat entered bankruptcy back on May 13th 2020. During the period covered by the filing, K&E billed 13,746 hours on the case and have asked for $13.538 million in fees and expenses.

They told the court that 64 of their staff had billed less than 15 hours, and in some cases much less than 15 hours, but with a “blended rate” of $970 per hour (and with rates ranging from $625 to $1895 per hour), the sums quickly mount up.

The total sum already approved by the bankruptcy court in favour of K&E totalled $45.482 million in the period to May 31st.

Admittedly, K&E’s output has been considerable. They told the court that they had produced more than 100,000 documents comprising 850,000 pages.

Intelsat’s Confirmation Hearing (for their exit from bankruptcy) is due to be heard starting on December 2nd with a final pre-trial conference before the court due to be heard on November 16th.

Kirkland & Ellis are not alone. There are certainly hundreds of other lawyers employed by other claimants and interested parties with money at stake on the final outcome.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Virgin Galactic in stock split
2. Thuraya-3 suffers major problem
3. AST SpaceMobile hit by Class Action
4. Optimism under threat at SES
5. Rivada visits Terran Orbital’s manufacturing HQ
6. Avanti wins spectrum debt obligation case
7. SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers
8. IRIS2 already in trouble?
9. Intelsat contemplates next steps

Categories: Blogs, Business, Inside Satellite, Policy

Tags: chapter 11, Intelsat