The man whose review will help decide whether Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman gets to keep more than $4 million worth of fees after being booted from a long-running bankruptcy case has been revealed.
Dennis Connolly has been appointed as the Chapter 11 Trustee in the bankruptcy case of electronics maker SonicBlue — a case that grabbed the attention of the legal community after Pillsbury was disqualified for not disclosing a conflict of interest. The firm still faces the possibility of having to disgorge some or all of its fees.
Here are details on Connolly: He’s a bankruptcy partner with Am Law 100 firm Alston & Bird in Atlanta. He’s known for having served as lawyer to the examiner in the Enron bankruptcy case, but it appears from his bio that he hasn’t served as a trustee before.
One thing’s for sure: He’s not from around here and is apparently not intertwined with any of the parties of interest in the SonicBlue case — a major point for him in the eyes of the judge and the U.S. Trustee, who both emphasized the need for an extremely neutral party for a case sullied by appearances of conflict.
No final word on how the creditors and their lawyers, who could potentially vote someone else in, are feeling about the selection, but sources tell Legal Pad that there are a few rumblings.
So, bankruptcy lawyers ... should the firm lose its fees? Is the new trustee hard-nosed? A pushover? We know work is slow, so hit the comment button and give us your take on this case..
— Zusha Elinson
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