According to the Am Law Daily, Judge Martin Glenn grilled the firms over their applications, but only Proskauer – which has worked for Dewey and its predecessors for 14 years – was thrown out.

Hiring spree

The court ruled Proskauer – which the Dewey estate hoped to retain for labour and employment matters -- had been coloured by the recruitment of 63 partners, attorneys, and staff from the defunct firm in the weeks before its demise.
Edward Weisfelner, a partner at Boston-based Brown Rudnick who is representing an official committee of Dewey's unsecured creditors, said: ‘I don’t mean to seem trite, but in the context of this case, what we do not only has to be right, but has to seem right.’

Revised application

However, Judge Glenn did tell Proskauer lawyers they could submit a revised application.
The firms winning approval are: New York bankruptcy-specialist law firm Togut Segal & Segal, Los Angeles-based public relations firm Sitrick & Company,  London-based insolvency and restructuring specialists Zolfo Cooper, Empire State Building-based financial consultants Goldin Associates, San-Francisco-based receivables collection firm On-Site Associates and US management consulting firm Development Specialists.