Anthony Lin in the NYLJ writes that:

“The church group suing Weil, Gotshal & Manges for allegedly steering it into a “disastrous” bankruptcy is accusing the firm of withholding from discovery e-mail correspondence of the partner who led the 2004 Chapter 11 filing. The St. Louis-based National Benevolent Association, which sued Weil Gotshal in bankruptcy court in Texas last fall, said in a motion filed Oct. 13 that the firm had failed to produce all the e-mails of partner Deryck Palmer, the lead lawyer in the group’s bankruptcy. To support its contention, the nonprofit, which is the social services arm of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), pointed to the variance from the number of pages of e-mails it had received from other individuals in the case, including other Weil Gotshal lawyers. The association said the firm had produced only 650 pages of Mr. Palmer’s e-mails, compared to over 70,000 pages for another partner, Alfredo Perez, and 37,000 pages for a third partner, Nellie Camerik. “There is no reasonable explanation for this discrepancy,” the group said in its motion, “especially in light of the fact that Palmer was NBA’s lead counsel from the inception of Weil’s representation.” But Weil Gotshal general counsel Richard Davis said yesterday that the discrepancy was explained by the partners’ different approaches to document retention. Unlike the other partners cited in the motion, Mr. Palmer did not archive his e-mails, he said, and the firm purged unarchived messages every 90 days. Mr. Davis said he expected the discovery dispute to be settled shortly with that explanation. In its suit, the association claims Mr. Palmer’s “unreasonable negotiating positions” prevented it from reaching an agreement with its creditors to forestall bankruptcy. The nonprofit, which once had 2,500 employees in 20 states and annual revenues and contributions of $145 million, shrank to 365 employees in five facilities after bankruptcy, though it retained a $70 million endowment. Weil Gotshal maintains that the Chapter 11 filing was necessary because the creditors had commenced litigation and were poised to seize the group’s assets. – Anthony Lin