Alberto Safra Fights $35m Legal Bill After $23bn Inheritance Battle

Alberto Safra, the son of the late Brazilian billionaire Joseph Safra, has successfully challenged a legal bill exceeding $35 million in the English High Court. The dispute follows a protracted and high-stakes battle over his father’s $23 billion estate, one of the largest inheritance disputes in history.

In a judgment handed down on April 8, 2026, Cost Judge Leonard ruled against the US law firm WilmerHale Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, refusing the firm’s request to compel Safra to pay a remaining balance of $18.9 million. The judge determined that Safra will instead review the time records to decide what constitutes a reasonable and proportionate payment.

Breakdown of the $35 Million Legal Bill

The legal fees in question totaled $35,343,213.96 (£26,289,166.12) for work conducted between September 2022 and July 2024. During this period, WilmerHale managed five high-stakes arbitrations at the London Court of International Arbitration alongside multiple cross-border issues.

Court records revealed that the firm’s hourly rates ranged from $1,400 to over $2,000. By 2024, the rate for the top partner had reached $2,095 per hour, while associates billed between $715 and $1,055 per hour.

The intensity of the workload was reflected in the billing records. One partner, John Trenor, was documented working more than 17 hours a day on certain occasions. On a single day in June 2023, the legal team billed a total of 130.3 hours, resulting in a cost to Safra of $162,312 for that day alone.

On a single day in June 2023, the legal team billed 130.3 hours, costing Safra $162,312

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Beyond hourly fees, the bill included substantial operational and travel expenses for the team working between New York and London. These costs included $11,367 for a single airfare from London to New York and $6,037 for a partner’s accommodation in London. The firm also billed thousands of dollars for office takeaways meals and late-night secretarial support during high-intensity periods.

Judicial Critique of Billing Practices

Judge Leonard characterized the charges as extremely high and noted they were well outside any ‘run of the mill’ case. The judge stated that even a small percentage of overcharging in a case of this magnitude would easily result in a seven-figure sum, making significant reductions on assessment reasonable.

A central point of the legal dispute was the nature of the agreement between Safra and WilmerHale. The law firm argued that Safra had signed a contentious business agreement, a type of contract that is generally harder to challenge because it locks in the agreed-upon fees.

However, the judge rejected this classification, ruling that the arrangement was a standard retainer. This decision was based on the fact that the firm maintained open-ended power to unilaterally increase its hourly rates.

The court further noted that WilmerHale increased its rates twice during the retainer period but failed to properly notify Safra of these increases as they occurred. Judge Leonard remarked that he had not previously encountered a case where such high costs accrued while providing the client with such limited information.

Context of the Safra Estate Dispute

The legal fees stemmed from a bitter conflict over the estate of Joseph Safra, who died in 2020 at the age of 82. Born in Lebanon and a citizen of Brazil, Joseph Safra was considered the world’s richest banker at the time of his death, having built a conglomerate valued at $23 billion.

Alberto Safra had claimed that his father suffered from cognitive impairment due to Parkinson’s disease and lacked the mental capacity to execute three new wills in 2019 that disinherited him. This led Alberto to sue his mother and two brothers, alleging manipulation in an effort to secure what he believed was his fair share of the Safra National Bank in New York.

The international dispute concluded on July 19, 2024, when the Safra family announced a global, amicable resolution. As part of the settlement, Alberto Safra stated that he understood there were no irregularities and that the assets were distributed according to his father’s wishes.

Under the terms of the July 2024 agreement, Alberto Safra agreed to divest from his interests in the J. Safra Group to pursue his own business ventures through his firm, ASA Investments. While financial terms were not disclosed, reports from 2022 indicated that a sale of his stake to his siblings could have been valued at as much as $5 billion.

In the recent challenge against WilmerHale’s fees, Alberto Safra was represented by Quillon Law, with Nicholas Bacon KC and Simon Teasdale of 4 New Square Chambers instructing the case.