Texas law firm Jackson Walker has agreed to pay $15 million to settle U.S. Justice Department claims tied to a former partner's secret romantic relationship with former U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David R. Jones, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal's bankruptcy bureau chief Andrew Scurria (WSJ Pro Bankruptcy). The settlement resolves DOJ claims arising from the ethical fallout of Judge Jones's undisclosed relationship with a Jackson Walker partner, which raised questions about millions of dollars in legal fees he approved for the firm while on the bench (Reuters).

Here's the background: In bankruptcy cases, a judge approves how much law firms get paid for their work. Judge Jones approved large fee payments to Jackson Walker while he was in a secret relationship with one of the firm's partners — something neither side disclosed. That created a conflict of interest, because the judge was supposed to be neutral.

The $15 million figure is the latest step in a story that has unfolded through several partial settlements over the past year. Earlier this year, Jackson Walker reached a partial deal with the U.S. Trustee — the government office that polices bankruptcy cases — over fee claims in the cases Jones oversaw (Reuters). As of May 2025, Jackson Walker was set to pay back $1.5 million in fees across three settlements (Reuters). At that point, the firm also faced a July 15 deadline to give back $11 million or more in fees Jones had awarded (Reuters).

By July 2026, the settlements in the cases Jones oversaw had firmed up. Jackson Walker agreed to return $4.785 million of the $10.7 million in fees it received — roughly 44% (Reuters).

The DOJ settlement is one of several legal threats still in play. Jones also approved more than $32 million in fees for Kirkland & Ellis, more than $900,000 for Jackson Walker, and more than $15 million for Brown Rudnick in the Chesapeake bankruptcy case. Those fee approvals connect to a separate lawsuit filed by investment firm EJS, which sued Kirkland & Ellis, Jackson Walker, Brown Rudnick, Jones, and his former partner Elizabeth Freeman over the secret relationship (Reuters).

EJS first sued Jones and others in January, claiming the judge's secret relationship caused it to lose at least $64 million (Law360). But private lawsuits like this have had mixed results. A federal court in California threw out a case brought by two technology executives who said the judge's relationship affected their bankruptcy case (Reuters).

The $15 million in fees approved for Brown Rudnick relates to the separate EJS lawsuit, not the Jackson Walker DOJ settlement (Reuters).

The broader context here is about what gets resolved and what doesn't. The DOJ settlement closes the government's regulatory case, but the private lawsuit from EJS — with its $64 million damages claim — is still unresolved. The California court's dismissal of the technology executives' case suggests there may be limits on how far private lawsuits can go. Meanwhile, law firms that handle a lot of bankruptcy cases are updating their rules for disclosing conflicts of interest.