Filing Summary

On February 16, 2021, the United States Trustee filed a motion in the NRA’s bankruptcy case to bar the law firm of Brewer Attorneys & Counselors from participating as counsel to the NRA. The US Trustee alleges the firm has “divided loyalties and conflicts of interest” and that “these disqualifying conflicts are compounded by [the firm’s] failure to disclose them” to the bankruptcy court. (para. 1)

The motion notes that Bill Brewer, the NRA’s lead attorney in several litigations, “has been banned from personally appearing in court on behalf of the NRA in one of the NRA-Ackerman McQueen lawsuits.” (para. 3).  The U.S. Trustee also notes how Brewer’s billing of the NRA, and several claims of insiders that the bills were excessive and improper, are part of the several litigations the NRA finds itself mired in.  “Thus, the NRA seeks to retain [the Brewer firm] to represent it on the very matter that precipitated the filling of these bankruptcy cases and in which [the Brewer firm’s] conduct is directly at issue.” (para. 3)

According to the Wall Street Journal, “the Brewer firm took in nearly $17.5 million in the three months before the bankruptcy filing, but only $6.3 million of it was for restructuring advice.”

The U.S. Trustee points out, something raised in motions to dismiss the case raised by various parties, that the NRA has “freely admitted that they filed these bankruptcy cases primarily, if not solely, to address the New York Attorney General lawsuit filed in August 2020 against the debtor the National Riffle Association, its CEO and EVP (Wayne LaPierre), its General Counsel, and other NRA executives. (para. 3)