Panama Canal Authority hires US law firm amid Trump threats

By David Thomas

Feb 6 (Reuters) - (Billable Hours is Reuters' weekly report on lawyers and money. Please send tips or suggestions to D.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com)

U.S. law firm Vinson & Elkins has received nearly $7 million in fees since late November for work on behalf of the authority that controls the Panama Canal, as President Donald Trump has threatened to re-take control of the world's second busiest waterway.

The law firm and 10 of its lawyers said in new filings under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) that they are providing "legal and strategic advice" to Autoridad del Canal de Panama as it relates to the U.S. government.

The work includes advising the canal authority and potentially engaging with U.S. officials in connection with "congressional inquiries, legislative actions, executive decisions, treaties, laws, and U.S. policy," the firm said in the filings, which were dated Jan. 31.

Among the Vinson lawyers involved is G. Zachary Terwilliger, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia during the first Republican Trump administration.

A spokesperson for Vinson and the Panama Canal Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The government of Panama separately hired two lobbying and consulting firms last month, BGR Group and VantageKnight. They did not respond to requests for comment.

FARA requires U.S. law firms, lobbyists and others to disclose some types of work for foreign clients.

Vinson, a Houston-founded firm with about 700 lawyers, said in its filings that Terwilliger and the other partners involved are billing the Panama Canal Authority between $1,050 and $1,500 an hour. The firm said it has spent $3.8 million in connection with its work, including more than $780,000 on "professional fees relating to non-registerable legal services" from U.S. law firm Mayer Brown. A Mayer Brown spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump in a December 22 speech accused Panama of charging excessive rates and said he would not let the canal fall into the "wrong hands," warning of potential Chinese influence on the passage.

The canal, which accounts for 2.5% of global seaborne trade, returned to full Panamanian control in 1999 after the United States largely built it and administered the surrounding territory for decades.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday warned Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino that Washington will "take measures necessary" if Panama does not immediately try to end what Trump sees as China's influence and control over the Panama Canal.

Mulino on Thursday accused the United States of spreading "lies and falsehoods" after the U.S. State Department claimed U.S. government vessels would be able to travel the Panama Canal without paying.

-- Plaintiffs' lawyers behind a pending $2.8 billion class action antitrust settlement with Blue Cross Blue Shield have asked for more than $754 million in legal fees and expenses for their work on the 13-year-old case.

The lawyers, led by the Whatley Kallas law firm, are seeking $657.1 million in fees, and at least $97 million in expenses.

Whatley Kallas said its request for 23.47% of the settlement amount is in line with fees awarded to a different group of lawyers, led by Boies Schiller Flexner and Hausfeld LLP, for their work on a similar settlement from Blue Cross worth $2.7 billion in 2020.

-- Lawyers who brought antitrust claims against meat-packing giant JBS said they are planning to request up to one-third of a pending $83.5 million settlement as their legal fee.

Lawyers at Scott + Scott Attorneys at Law and Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel said they have worked tens of thousands of hours on the litigation, which accused JBS of conspiring with other meat-packing companies to artificially inflate prices by curbing supply in the U.S. beef market.

JBS said in a statement that the claims were "frivolous and without merit" but that settling was in the best interest of the company.

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