Creditors assemble their own legal team
A committee of LIV Golf’s unsecured creditors has selected US law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher to advise it during the golf league’s bankruptcy proceedings. Reuters reported the development on October 27, citing a court filing made on October 26 in the US Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey.
The committee includes media interests and other vendors with unsecured claims—obligations not backed by specific collateral. It considered four law firms before choosing Willkie, which will work alongside Fox Rothschild.
What changes in the restructuring
LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 protection in September. In the US, Chapter 11 generally allows a business to continue operating while it seeks to reorganize its finances and negotiates with creditors. The league has said it intends to keep operating during that process.
The creditors’ appointment is therefore not a court ruling that LIV must close, nor proof that a reorganization plan has been approved. It is an important procedural development: businesses owed money now have dedicated advisers to assess proposals, negotiate treatment of their claims and, if necessary, participate in litigation.
Those interests may not always align with the league’s preferred strategy. Any viable outcome will require consideration of the creditors’ position as well as LIV’s plans for its operations.
The cost of high-stakes legal advice
Court documents cited by Reuters put Willkie’s proposed hourly rates at $2,350–$3,100 for partners and senior counsel and $995–$2,075 for associates and other lawyers. LIV itself is represented by Gibson Dunn, which billed the league more than $1.6 million for September, according to a separate bankruptcy filing. Hourly rates are not the same as total approved legal fees or amounts ultimately paid.
The wider crisis followed Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) saying in April that further investment in LIV no longer aligned with its goals, with financial support ending after the 2026 season. Reuters reports PIF has invested more than $5 billion in the project since LIV’s 2022 launch.
What to watch next
Attention now turns to the negotiations over a workable reorganization. The hiring of Willkie clarifies who will represent unsecured creditors, but it does not resolve the league’s future, guarantee a particular tournament schedule or determine the outcome of any creditor claims.
