Munger Tolles Sees Jump in Berkshire Hathaway Legal Fee Haul

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. nearly doubled the fees it paid to Munger, Tolles & Olson following questions about the company’s ties to its longtime outside counsel.

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Nebraska-based holding company paid $21.2 million to Munger Tolles last year, Berkshire disclosed in a late Friday proxy filing. That’s up from the $12.5 million it paid the law firm for work in 2023.

The filing comes about one year after a 17-lawyer group that has handled several Berkshire deals bolted for Baker McKenzie. The team, which included 11 partners, steered Berkshire’s nearly $12 billion buy of Allegheny Corp. among other large transactions.

Some of the Baker McKenzie lawyers are continuing to do bond work for Berkshire, the company disclosed in a separate securities filing.

Berkshire discloses what it pays Munger Tolles due to the Los Angeles-based firm’s longstanding ties to Buffett. Berkshire’s late vice chairman Charles Munger co-founded Munger Tolles and a fellow name partner, Ronald Olson, has long served on its board. Olson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Berkshire, unlike most major public companies, has no general counsel or chief legal officer to oversee internal legal functions. Munger Tolles’ work for the company and its various affiliates covers a range of practice areas and legal functions, with Olson and other lawyers effectively serving as the company’s in-house counsel, he told Bloomberg Law in 2021.

While Berkshire may be a boon to Munger Tolles, the firm has other clients who can be even more lucrative. Snap Inc. revealed in its annual 10-K filed in February that it paid approximately $51.2 million last year to Munger Tolles, which has longstanding ties to the Snapchat owner.

While the legal fees paid to Munger Tolles don’t include detailed explanations for the services rendered, the firm noted on its website last year that it represented Snap in nationwide social media litigation.

Michael O’Sullivan, a former Munger Tolles partner who has been Snap’s general counsel since 2016, saw his total compensation rise almost 18% last year, to more than $11 million, according to the filing.