Their work helped wipe about $10 billion in debts for the two retailers off the books. Neither Neiman Marcus General Counsel Tracey Preston nor J.C. Penney General Counsel Brandy Treadway objected to the requests for compensation. Neither did the court-appointed trustees in either case. Chief Bankruptcy Judge David Jones in Houston reviewed and approved the payments to the firms. The J.C. Penney and Neiman Marcus cases highlight two significant points: (1) corporate bankruptcies are crazy expensive and (2) the law firms in Texas that have strong restructuring practices almost certainly recorded record profits in 2020 – a remarkable feat during a pandemic and recession. Without a doubt, the biggest beneficiary is Kirkland & Ellis, a Chicago-founded firm that opened its first office in Houston in April 2014 and opened a Dallas office in 2018. Kirkland now has more than 250 lawyers in its Texas offices and those lawyers generated about $389 million in 2019.