Justice Served!

Rather than perpetuate this pro bono ruse Skadden should have just donated $1 million to Legal Aid — I’m pretty sure their attorneys are cheaper:

Chinatown restaurant workers who claimed their bosses stole their tips and cheated them out of overtime thought they’d scored a major payday when a judge awarded them $700,000 in February.

But their lawyers ended up the bigger winners — tallying $1 million in legal fees, even though they took on the case pro bono.

A judge this week awarded attorneys’ fees of as much as $450-an-hour to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, who argued the case on behalf of waiters, busboys and captains at the 88 Palace Restaurant.

“The case was unusually difficult and complex, the resources required to prosecute it immense,” Manhattan Federal Judge Gerard Lynch wrote.

Skadden Arps attorney Mark Cheffo said his firm will donate most of the money “to the support of Asian-American legal endeavors.”