Jackson Walker LLP and the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog will go to trial over litigation alleging the firm improperly concealed an ex-partner’s romance with a former judge.
The Texas-based law firm and the US Trustee’s office were unable to reach a deal in mediation before a deadline set by a federal judge, according to a notice filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Judge Alia Moses issued an order last week saying that the litigation would proceed to trial if no settlement was reached by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The mediation was the first attempt at a resolution the bankruptcy monitor agreed to since it filed a challenge in late 2023 over $23 million in fees Jackson Walker earned in cases involving onetime partner Elizabeth Freeman and former Houston bankruptcy judge David R. Jones, who had been in a secret relationship for years.
Retired Boston bankruptcy judge Joan N. Feeney oversaw the mediation, which began on June 16. The firm and the US Trustee agreed to enter talks after a tense hearing in May in which Moses said she’d lost patience with last-minute court filings.
The US Trustee has accused Jackson Walker of breaching its ethical duties by failing to disclose the relationship. Jackson Walker regularly represented clients in large bankruptcies before Jones.
The firm has maintained it acted appropriately when it learned of the romance.
Jones resigned in 2023 after the relationship was revealed. He had approved fees for the firm and, in some cases, for work Freeman individually performed. Jones also mediated several bankruptcies in which Jackson Walker or Freeman took part.
The US Trustee’s litigation against Jackson Walker has affected more than 30 large bankruptcy cases involving Jones and sparked separate civil litigation and a criminal probe. Freeman, who shared and owned a home with Jones, left Jackson Walker in late 2022.
Jackson Walker is represented by Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP and Rusty Hardin & Associates LLP.
The case In Re: Professional Fee Matters Concerning the Jackson Walker Law Firm, S.D. Tex., No. 23-04787, notice 7/15/25.
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