{"id":51929,"date":"2025-11-15T12:37:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T12:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute"},"modified":"2025-11-15T12:54:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T12:54:20","slug":"sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute","title":{"rendered":"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Sierra-Leone. <\/strong><\/span>The Government of Sierra Leone has reached a settlement in principle with the U.S. law firm Jenner &amp; Block, resolving a high-stakes legal conflict over $8.1 million in allegedly unpaid legal fees.<\/p>\n<p>The settlement was disclosed in a brief order by U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. The order did not provide any specific details regarding the terms of the agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The dispute stemmed from legal services Jenner &amp; Block provided to Sierra Leone. The Chicago-based firm was hired to defend the West African nation in a major international arbitration case against Gerald International Ltd, an iron ore contractor. The company had sought over $1.8 billion in damages related to an export ban.<\/p>\n<p>Jenner &amp; Block sued Sierra Leone in 2022, claiming that the country had failed to pay the full amount for its legal services. The firm stated that the work became \u201cfar more complex and voluminous than either party initially contemplated.\u201d According to the lawsuit, Sierra Leone had paid $3.6 million in fees between 2019 and late 2021 but still owed an additional $8.1 million.<\/p>\n<p>Sierra Leone\u2019s government had contested these claims, arguing that Jenner had not demonstrated it was owed more than the $3.6 million already paid. The country also initially contended that no valid contract existed and that it was immune from the lawsuit as a foreign sovereign. However, a federal judge rejected those arguments in January, allowing the case to proceed.<\/p>\n<p>Attorneys representing Sierra Leone and a spokesperson for Jenner &amp; Block did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the newly announced settlement in principle. The agreement brings to a close a significant point of legal and financial contention for the Sierra Leonean government.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Sierra-Leone<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Sierra-Leone. The Government of Sierra Leone has reached a settlement in principle with the U.S. law firm Jenner &amp; Block, resolving a high-stakes legal conflict over $8.1 million in allegedly unpaid legal fees. The settlement was disclosed in a brief order by U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":51928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[292],"class_list":["post-51929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-sierra-leone"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute - Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Government of Sierra Leone has reached a settlement in principle with the U.S. law firm Jenner &amp; Block, resolvin ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Government of Sierra Leone has reached a settlement in principle with the U.S. law firm Jenner &amp; Block, resolvin ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sierra Leone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-15T12:37:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-15T12:54:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2025\/11\/sm_1763198617.609248.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-15T12:37:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-15T12:54:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute\"},\"wordCount\":301,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2025\/11\/sm_1763198617.609248.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Sierra-Leone\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute\",\"name\":\"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute - Sierra Leone\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2025\/11\/sm_1763198617.609248.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-15T12:37:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-15T12:54:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The Government of Sierra Leone has reached a settlement in principle with the U.S. law firm Jenner &amp; Block, resolvin ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2025\/11\/sm_1763198617.609248.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2025\/11\/sm_1763198617.609248.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/\",\"name\":\"Sierra Leone\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute - Sierra Leone","description":"The Government of Sierra Leone has reached a settlement in principle with the U.S. law firm Jenner &amp; Block, resolvin ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute","og_description":"The Government of Sierra Leone has reached a settlement in principle with the U.S. law firm Jenner &amp; Block, resolvin ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute","og_site_name":"Sierra Leone","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-11-15T12:37:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-15T12:54:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2025\/11\/sm_1763198617.609248.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute","datePublished":"2025-11-15T12:37:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-15T12:54:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute"},"wordCount":301,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2025\/11\/sm_1763198617.609248.jpg","keywords":["Sierra-Leone"],"articleSection":["all news","economy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute","name":"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute - Sierra Leone","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2025\/11\/sm_1763198617.609248.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-15T12:37:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-15T12:54:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The Government of Sierra Leone has reached a settlement in principle with the U.S. law firm Jenner &amp; Block, resolvin ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2025\/11\/sm_1763198617.609248.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2025\/11\/sm_1763198617.609248.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/sierra-leone-settles-8-million-legal-fees-dispute#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sierra Leone Settles $8 Million Legal Fees Dispute"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/","name":"Sierra Leone","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}