Larry's $620k Legal bill

Cafe Society
1

This could go in GQ, but since it’s Anna Nicole/Pop Culture related I’ll put it here.

Larry Birkhead, the front-runner for father of Dannielynn Etc. Etc. Etc.'s father, received a 112 page $620,492.84 legal bill from his former attorney Debra Opri this week. It includes her $475/hour billing and such items as a $2400 dinner and a $1116 dinner with experts (Birkhead was present at neither), Opri’s husband’s drycleaning, $1,500 per month for Opri’s publicist fees, etc… Breakdowns here and elsewhere.

Opri has said she’ll settle for $511,365.09 if he pays immediately.

Alright… a couple of questions:

Does anybody know if Birkhead has this kind of money? He’s a photographer but unless he’s from a very rich family (which perhaps he is) and has a trust fund from them he probably doesn’t have a spare $600k lying around.

Can these debts be absolved through bankruptcy or do most lawyers have a “don’t even think about it” clause of some sort?

If Dannielynn receives a judgment against the estate of her mother’s former-husband, can Birkhead use any of this money for payment of these fees? Can he get any type of legal fee reimbursement from the estate of Anna Nicole (who possibly does have something like that lying around)?

And is Opri’s legal billing (husband’s dry cleaning? 50% tips on meals where Birkhead wasn’t present? $2500 for dinner for two?) legal?

2

Hmm, since Ms. Opri pays a publicist, clearly she believes there is value in publicity. Birkhead should charge her a million bucks for all the publicity she got when he selected her to take the case.

3

IANAL, but wasn’t there a stink raised a few years ago when the rules for how debts were assigned priorities in bankruptcies changed to put child support debts ahead of legal fees?

If that’s the case, it does imply to me that there is a sense that legal bills are more equal than others.

4

I’m trying to figure out- assume that Larry Birkhead has an income of $100K per year after taxes (which is not at all safe to assume, for most photographers certainly don’t)- what type of payment plan could you possibly work out to pay off that kind of debtload? She must be figuring that he’s got high earning potential for story rights or earning potential.

5

She’s just hoping Larry turns out to be the father.