[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Watch Out, Recently Departed Dewey & LeBoeuf Partners! Your bankrupt law firm needs you and lots of money.  While you were high-tailing it to safer, more welcoming environs, the Dewey Accounts Payable Department was fighting off creditors who collectively seek upwards of $315 million.  You know, outstanding obligations to banks, bond-holders, landlords, vendors, limousine services. The biggest problem - as if you needed anyone to tell you - is that your old law firm is generating little or no revenue.  Nada! All of the firm's revenue-potential that went out the door, when you and other partners left, along with your teams of associates and administrative staff.  We don't begrudge your decision, and simply want to ask for a contribution of funds from your and your fellow former partners.  The amount is $255 million - a figure we'll explain shortly.  Your share can be paid by check or money wire - but no credit cards, please.   [END OF PAGE ONE - WE CONTINUE WITH THE REPORT FROM COMPLIANCE-INSIGHTS]. The Dewey Estate. The Dewey Estate is considering claims to recover profits from unfinished legal work that partners took with them to their new firms.  Such "unfinished business" claims are common when law firms fail - and they can take years to resolve. The business of winding down the Dewey & LeBoeuf business activities and obligations, is in the hands of restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper's Joff Mitchell, a senior managing director, who will work with former partners and some 90 staffers. To date, the New York law firm, once a 1,300-lawyer behemoth among the largest in New York, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court protection last week and owes upward of $315 million to banks, bondholders, landlords, and vendors.  Going forward, Mr. Mitchell will investigate possible claims against third parties—which could include former partners and the law firms they joined—and "attempt to settle or pursue them as appropriate." To date, all the potential targets for claims haven't been identified, said Mr. Mitchell, who has advised on a number of insolvency cases and also worked in management at several corporations.  However, the biggest source for repaying Dewey's creditors will be collecting profits for legal work for which the firm hasn't yet been paid, he said. Legal Work Projects in Process, or 'Unfinished Business'. As noted above, the main source for repaying Dewey's creditors will be collecting an estimated $255 million in legal work for which the firm - Dewey - hasn't yet been paid.  As with most unfinished-business claims, Mr. Mitchell's work could take years.  Often, partners' new law firms end up settling in agreements that range from the low 6-figures to $10 million or more. Facing Mr. Mitchell is the fact that most partners left before the firm went under, making his claim that much harder.  Often, unfinished-business claims are used against firms that take on partners after a firm has dissolved, a technical step Dewey skipped over when it filed for Chapter 11 last week. Precedent. Last month, another defunct New York firm, Coudert Brothers LLP, could change the game, to include partner exits from functioning law firms and provide added traction in the event that Mr. Mitchell sets his sights on firms that took on Dewey partners. "To the extent that we the estate have claims, we would like to settle those claims sooner rather than later.  So yes, we will pursue them, we will engage quickly with the successor firms with a view to settling those." Not An Easy Solution. Even so, justice will not be swift.  "In the Coudert case, it took nearly two years to get that accomplished," said attorney Tracy Klestadt, who is representing some former Dewey partners and served as debtor's counsel for Coudert Brothers. In addition, the Coudert case could work against Mr. Mitchell's efforts.  Last week a federal judge in New York ruled that profits from Coudert's unfinished business were "property" of the partnership, not the new firms joined by its former partners after Coudert dissolved. Finally, in addition to the above-noted claims, the Estate may pursue so-called "clawbacks" of money that partners were paid after the firm tipped into insolvency.  It's all part of a larger strategy to wring as much value as possible from what remains of Dewey. For further details, go to [WSJ, 6/4/12].