Billionaire son of ‘world’s richest banker’ challenges $35mn legal fees

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

A Brazilian billionaire has won a review of more than $35mn in legal fees charged by US law firm WilmerHale, in a ruling that lays bare the high hourly rates of Big Law.

In a judgment published on Wednesday, London’s High Court granted Alberto Safra, the son of Joseph Safra — once the “world’s richest banker” — a full assessment of WilmerHale’s costs, which ran to more than $162,000 on one day in 2023 alone.

The dispute highlights the ever-increasing hourly rates of the world’s biggest law firms, as well as the high number of hours lawyers at such firms work.

When Safra instructed WilmerHale in 2022, the firm quoted partner rates as high as $2,100 an hour. Partners later recorded working between 12 and 17 hours a day on the multibillion-dollar estate feud involving his late father’s inheritance.

“I have not previously encountered a case in which such levels of costs accrued with such limited information being provided to the client,” costs judge Colum Charles Leonard said in his ruling on the invoices that came to $35.3mn. “The defendant’s charges are extremely high, and well outside any ‘run of the mill’ case.”

He added: “There are many features of this case which justify an order for assessment.”

US law firms’ hourly fees have exploded in recent years, driven by higher interest rates and a pick-up in dealmaking. International expansion by the world’s biggest firms has also pushed up fees of domestic competitors. Some American outfits now charge closer to $3,000 an hour, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

WilmerHale also billed Safra for “extremely high travel and accommodation expenses”, the judge said. The billionaire was invoiced for more than $11,000 on one occasion for one partner to travel from New York to London. WilmerHale had told Safra at the outset that bills would include business-class flights.

WilmerHale did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Safra instructed WilmerHale between 2022 and 2024 in connection with a dispute between the Safra family members in the wake of the death of Joseph Safra, who had built a global empire of banks, property and agribusiness based in Brazil.

The inheritance fight over the $23bn estate was the subject of five arbitrations, which were ultimately settled.

The Brazilian also instructed litigation powerhouse Quinn Emanuel at the time, which had quoted similar hourly rates, according to the judgment.