Hogan Lovells has filed a lawsuit against Afghanistan seeking more than $1.2 million in unpaid legal fees. The law firm contends that the fees are related to work performed on 17 different matters dating as far back as December 2019. The legal services were rendered before the Taliban took control of the Afghan government in August 2021. Hogan Lovells is asking a federal court in Manhattan to enforce an arbitrator’s ruling, which mandates that the Afghan government settle the outstanding debts along with $500,000 in arbitration costs and additional interest.
According to the petition, Hogan Lovells began representing Afghanistan on a pro-bono basis in 2015. By 2018, the firm had entered into a remunerative arrangement for handling various legal matters for the Afghan government. Significant among these legal challenges was the firm’s defense of Afghanistan in a 2019 lawsuit initiated by a September 11 victim. Dennis H. Tracey, Hogan Lovells’ global enforcement team co-chair, led much of this legal work.
Representation by Hogan Lovells ceased two months after the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. The law firm has yet to receive comment from either the Afghan Embassy in Washington D.C. or attorneys for the Afghan government regarding the lawsuit.
The case is filed as Hogan Lovells US LLP v. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:24-cv-05541, 7/22/24.