The Bankruptcy Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, together with several other non-California bar associations, has filed an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court in support of the appellant in Baker Botts LLP v. ASARCO LLC, No. 14-103. The Baker Botts law firm appealed from the decision of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denying the payment of fees requested by Baker Botts, for the attorney fees it incurred defending against an objection to its fee application. By most accounts, including the trial court’s, Baker Botts had obtained an exceptional outcome in the bankruptcy case. The Fifth Circuit’s opinion established a per se rule against allowing payment of fees incurred in defense of bankruptcy fee applications, in direct conflict with the Ninth Circuit’s In re Smith, 317 F.3d 918 (9th Cir. 2002) decision, which places such a determination within the sound discretion of the bankruptcy judge.