Texas Lawyer: Lawyers Fight Each Other, Clients in $10M Fee Dispute
January 9, 2026 — Texas Lawyer reports that a high-profile trade secrets case that produced jury verdicts totaling more than $300 million has now turned into a high-stakes fight between lawyers and former clients.
According to the January 9, 2026, article, Brewer client Williams Simons & Landis (WSL) has filed a federal lawsuit seeking more than $10 million in unpaid legal fees. Texas Lawyer reports that WSL helped secure a $115 million jury verdict against Walmart in April 2021. WSL "then helped keep the case going through a retrial, which led to a $223 million verdict in May 2025. The case settled in August 2025, but the settlement amount has not been made public," the article states.
The defendants include the firm’s former clients — RiskOn International, Ecoark Holdings, Zest Labs Holdings, and related entities — as well as San Francisco law firm Bartko Pavia, which served as lead counsel during the retrial.
WSL alleges that after benefiting from years of trial and appellate work, the defendants conspired to avoid paying contractually owed contingent fees and expenses. William A. Brewer III, Brewer partner and lead counsel for WSL, described the situation as extraordinary in comments to Texas Lawyer.
“For the client now to try to avoid paying for the work that was done over five years ago by my client, that’s an extraordinary injustice,” said Brewer. “No lawyer, particularly trial lawyers, who's developed and tried the case and prevailed substantially, likes to be put in the position where you have to sue your client to get paid. That's what's happened here.”
In addition to fees tied to the Walmart recovery, WSL says it is owed approximately $300,000 for work on a separate lawsuit against Deloitte Consulting. As reported, “Williams Simons & Landis is seeking a jury trial, attorney fees, court costs, and an order requiring the defendants to provide a full accounting of settlement proceeds, litigation recoveries, and fund transfers related to the Walmart case. The firm is also seeking exemplary and punitive damages for what it calls the defendants' ‘willful, malicious, fraudulent and tortious conduct’ – plus any other legal or equitable relief the court might award.”
“Everybody should be popping champagne and enjoying a fight well fought,” Brewer said. “Instead, they’re trying to get away with not paying their bill.”