Paul Hastings, which is serving as special labor and antitrust counsel to AMR, has been paid nearly $14.8 million by the debtor through December 31. Labor and employment senior counsel John "Jack" Gallagher, appellate practice cochair and employment litigation partner Neal Mollen, litigation and compliance partner Scott Flicker, and labor and employment partners Jon Geier and Todd Duffield are advising AMR along with antitrust partner M.J. Moltenbrey and associate Timothy Longman.
Moltenbrey joined Paul Hastings last May from Dewey, a firm she joined in March 2011 following the collapse of her previous firm, Howrey. AMR retained Dewey as its special litigation counsel last March, and bankruptcy court records show the bankrupt firm was paid $3.65 million for its services after filing its final fee application in late August. (Cooley, a firm that picked up several other Dewey defectors, has been paid more than $1.4 million by AMR.)
Jones Day is also serving as U.S. antitrust cocounsel to AMR on its proposed tie-up with US Airways. Antitrust partners Joe Sims and J. Bruce McDonald are leading a team from the firm working on the matter.
Debevoise & Plimpton is serving as special aircraft counsel to AMR through aviation practice chair John Curry III, restructuring cochair Richard Hahn, corporate and restructuring partners Jasmine Ball and My Chi To, tax partners Vadim Mahmoudov and Robert Staffaroni, and litigation and bankruptcy partner Michael Wiles. In 2011, Curry led a Debevoise team advising AMR on its $38 billion purchase of 460 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing.
Bankruptcy court records show that AMR has paid Debevoise nearly $21.1 million for its services through December 31. Another firm with ties to Weil, Texas litigation boutique Yetter Coleman, has received nearly $2.7 million through that same time period in its role as special litigation counsel to the debtor. Yetter Coleman founding partner Gregory Coleman—the Lone Star state's first solicitor general and the former head of the national appellate practice at Weil—died tragically in a plane crash in 2010.
Other top AMR billers during the company's Chapter 11 layover include special benefits counsel the Groom Law Group ($4 million), special litigation counsel Kelly Hart & Hallman ($1.9 million), special labor and employment counsel Morgan, Lewis & Bockius ($1.7 million), special union counsel Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton ($1.4 million), corporate counsel Winstead ($1 million), special labor and employment counsel Ford & Harrison ($776,000), special counsel Haynes and Boone ($759,000) special litigation counsel Harris, Finley & Bogle ($673,000), and special IP counsel Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione ($669,000).
Gary Kennedy has served as AMR's general counsel and chief compliance officer since 2003. Kennedy is leading an in-house team working on the merger that includes corporate secretary Kenneth Wimberly and associate general counsel Tim Skipworth, Kathryn Koorenny, and David Allen. William Ris Jr. serves as senior vice president of government affairs for AMR.
Sources close to the matter, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely about the historic transaction, say that AMR had to stabilize its own operations before moving forward with the merger with US Airways. And because AMR is still mired in bankruptcy, the complex deal must be approved not only by U.S. antitrust regulators, but also by creditors in the airline's Chapter 11 case.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom corporate restructuring partners John "Jack" Butler Jr., and Jay Goffman are leading a team from the firm advising AMR's official unsecured creditors committee. Butler and Goffman are veterans of airline bankruptcies, and Skadden advised America West Airlines on its 2005 acquisition of US Airways out of bankruptcy, the second time in three years the latter was forced into Chapter 11.
Also working on the current matter for Skadden are restructuring partners John Lyons, Ron Meisler, and Felicia Perlman, M&A partners Eric Cochran and Sean Doyle, antitrust partner James Keyte, banking partner Sarah Ward, executive compensation and benefits partner Neil Leff, IP and technology partner Jose Esteves, labor and employment partner John Furfaro, litigation partner Albert Hogan III, real estate partner Paul Huff Jr., tax partner David Polster, and environmental practice head Don Frost Jr.
