Between September 26 and November 5 of this year, Bryan Cave represented the directors and officers of Hillcrest Bank, a small Kansas bank that went under on October 22.  According to a complaint filed by the FDIC, the directors and officers improperly transmitted copies of certain records to their attorneys.  Bryan Cave maintains that upon resigning as counsel, the firm destroyed all copies of the documents and has filed a consent order seeking to resolve the matter by providing sworn depositions regarding the disposition of the documents along with an accounting of what the firm did with the documents while it was in possession of them, and agreeing to let a third party information technology firm inspect their systems for any remaining documents.

The FDIC suit also claims that the law firm received in excess of $150,000 in attorney fees that were not authorized under the receivership and has asked the court to order Bryan Cave to return that money.

The bank’s failure will cost the FDIC between three and five hundred million dollars, although some of those losses will be absorbed by NBH Holdings, a private equity group taking over Hillcrest.

  

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