The strategy was laid down by the leadership team overseeing the remnants of the bust firm yesterday, according to the Am Law Daily web site.
The team told the ex-partners – around 150 of the 709 were present, packed into a Manhattan hotel conference room – that they should either agree to the terms by 24 July or face the threat of legal action which will seek larger sums of money, if a trustee takes control of the bankruptcy.

Unpopular plan

The plan – which the leadership team acknowledged will be unpopular – would be the first of its kind in a law firm bankruptcy and significantly hasten the chapter 11 bankruptcy process.
‘You're all going to look at this and not like what you see,’ Dewey's chief restructuring officer, Joff Mitchell of international corporate advisory and restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper, said in introducing the plan. ‘This settlement is not about assigning blame for what happened.’
The meeting -- described as a ‘sombre class reunion’ -- also heard Mr Mitchell suggest that any partners unable to pay the total settlement amount upfront could participate in a loan programme that would allow payments to be spread over the next three years at an interest rate of 9 per cent.