LIV Golf Inc. paid more than $7.1 million to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in discounted legal fees as the once Saudi Arabian-backed professional golf circuit was shedding much of its workforce, according to bankruptcy court records.
LIV began laying off most of its employees in August, but almost all its in-house legal staff, including chief legal officer John Ruzich, have agreed to remain with the business through October, said three sources familiar with LIV’s operations. The company’s agreement with private equity firm BC Partners Advisors LP, which is backing LIV’s move to restructure through the Chapter 11 process, would require that at least 50% of its players convert their unpaid compensation into a majority equity stake in the reorganized business.
The legal fees haul for Gibson Dunn was disclosed this week in court filings for LIV’s restructuring case, which began last month in Trenton, N.J. The firm, which is acting as co-counsel with lawyers from Cole Schotz, agreed to discount its bills by 20% after starting its corporate restructuring engagement in April.
Scott Greenberg, Gibson Dunn’s business restructuring chair, and private equity co-chair Richard Birns are leading the firm’s team for LIV, while Cole Schotz bankruptcy co-chair Michael Sirota is also steering the company in court.
LIV landed itself in bankruptcy after its Saudi backers — who spent more than $5 billion in an ill-fated effort to reshape the pro golf world by taking on the Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.-based PGA Tour Inc. — cut off funding amid a conflict in the Middle East. Geopolitical issues have roiled LIV throughout its five-year existence, one it hopes to extend by shedding expensive player contracts in bankruptcy court as part of a $300 million rescue package.
At least a dozen law firms are advising LIV in its cross-border insolvency. Gibson Dunn stated in court papers that it’s obtained conflict waivers from other entities in the case, including Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, which is being represented by White & Case and Pryor Cashman. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Lowenstein Sandler; and Rimon PC are advising BC Partners.
Some of LIV’s top players have retained their own counsel for its bankruptcy case. Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch are representing Bryson DeChambeau’s BAD Enterprises Inc.; Baker McKenzie is counseling Sergio Garcia’s Even Par LLC; and Reed Smith is advising golfers An Byeong-hun, Cameron Smith, Cameron Tringale, Marc Leishman, and Matthew Wolff.
Big Law Bills
Gibson Dunn disclosed in a Sept. 30 court filing that it has represented LIV since its formation in 2021, handling corporate and litigation matters.
The firm’s lawyers — partners, counsel, and associates — are billing between $995 to $3,240 per hour. The $7.1 million total is for work performed in the 90 days leading up to the company’s bankruptcy filing.
The firm didn’t respond to a request for comment about its fees. Gibson Dunn said in court papers that the “billing rates and material financial terms of the prepetition engagement” with LIV hadn’t changed within the last year.
Cole Schotz lawyers are billing between $450 and $2,000 per hour. The firm, which is bankruptcy co-counsel to LIV, said it’s been paid roughly $360,700 since it was hired in late July. Cole Schotz held a retainer of nearly $518,000 at the start of LIV’s bankruptcy.
Kobre & Kim is serving as special counsel to the strategic initiatives committee of LIV’s board, a role for which the firm has not yet received compensation, according to a court filing. Lawyers from the disputes-focused boutique are billing LIV between $950 to $2,750 per hour.
Nine other firms, including Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, are also advising LIV on certain matters, according to another filing. Those firms have agreed to collectively cap their fees at $1.8 million.
LIV’s Legal Exits
LIV’s legal staff earlier this year numbered more than a dozen lawyers, including John Tortora, a former top lawyer and executive for the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets and San Jose Sharks. A few exited in the months before LIV’s insolvency, among them Lawrence Burian, a longtime top lawyer and executive at Madison Square Garden Sports Corp. who served as LIV’s chief operating officer.
Burian left to become chief executive officer for Production Resource Group LLC, which provides lighting equipment and other services to the live events business. Another LIV lawyer and former Gibson Dunn associate, Trevor Topf, is poised to join Cleary Gottlieb, said a source briefed on the matter.
A tentative deal in 2023 between LIV and the rival PGA Tour never materialized after the latter pursued another $3 billion transaction to reshape its business. The PGA Tour’s new boss Brian Rolapp, hired last year from the NFL, ruled out any potential future deal with LIV this summer and said the US circuit wouldn’t welcome back players that defected to LIV.
The PGA Tour has reshuffled its own legal leadership in recent years, with Neera Shetty now serving as its top lawyer and interim chief administrative officer. She earned more than $2.4 million in total compensation in 2024, according to nonprofit organization’s most recent federal tax filing.