Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe recently parted ways with one of its clients. After the law firm cited nearly $4 million in unpaid legal fees, a California federal judge granted Orrick’s motion to withdraw as counsel to MGA Entertainment, the maker of Bratz dolls.
The firm took MGA on as a client back in 2009 after a jury awarded Mattel $100 million in a closely followed copyright case regarding MGA’s Bratz dolls. Mattel had sued, alleging that one of its doll designers developed the Bratz dolls while working at Mattel, then secretly took the idea to MGA, and a California jury ruled in favor of Mattel.
Orrick handled MGA’s appeal of that decision and won in April, when the 9th Circuit reversed the lower court’s ruling and awarded MGA $85 million in damages.
According to Orrick’s motion to withdraw as MGA’s counsel, the company had set up a payment plan with the firm in December 2010, but Orrick has only seen several payments since then and claims MGA still owes it millions.
Read more about this story in the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog.
