NRA Must Ditch ‘Deeply Entangled’ Bankruptcy Firm, Watchdog Says

The firm representing the National Rifle Association in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy has “divided loyalties and conflicts of interest,” some of which it failed to disclose, the Justice Department’s bankruptcy watchdog said.

Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and named partner William Brewer “are deeply entangled in numerous disputes at the core of the NRA’s bankruptcy,” the U.S. Trustee’s Office said in a court filing Tuesday.

According to the filing, William Brewer’s wife, Skye McQueen Brewer, is the sister of the CEO of Ackerman McQueen, the NRA’s former advertising agency. Ackerman McQueen is a defendant in three lawsuits brought by the NRA, and is a co-defendant with the NRA in a lawsuit pending in New York, the U.S. Trustee said.

The gun-rights organization wants BAC to represent it “on the very matter that precipitated the filing of these bankruptcy cases"—the New York attorney general’s lawsuit against the NRA and CEO Wayne LaPierre, the U.S. Trustee said in an objection filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas.

The NRA has paid BAC “significantly more” than Neligan LLP, a second law firm representing the association in the case, and BAC’s $2.5 million retainer is two and a half times that of the Neligan firm, the filing said.

“The statements in this legal filing, like others, reflect a misinformed view of the Brewer firm, its billings, and its advocacy for the NRA,” Charles L. Cotton, first vice president and chairman of the NRA’s Audit Committee, said in an emailed statement. “I, and all the officers, fully support the work the firm is doing, the results achieved, and the value of its services. As we have stated before, this relationship has been reviewed, vetted and approved.”

Another attorney for the NRA, Greg Garman of Garman Turner Gordon LLP, said it appeared the U.S. Trustee “does not have the full benefit of all the facts.”

Garman Turner Gordon, like BAC and Neligan, is seeking court approval to represent the NRA in bankruptcy. A hearing is set for Feb. 24.

“The truth is, it would cost the NRA millions of dollars in additional costs to replace the Brewer firm, given the firm’s unique understanding of the Association and its legal issues,” Garman said in an emailed statement.

The NRA filed for bankruptcy in January, saying it planned to reincorporate in Texas to avoid “costly, distracting and unprincipled attacks” from politicians in New York.

The case is In re Nat’l Rifle Ass’n of Am., Bankr. N.D. Tex., No. 21-30085, objection filed 2/16/21.