A judge decided earlier this month that Justin Baldoni must pay Blake Lively’s legal fees, now that the stars of It Ends With Us have dropped their litigation against each another. Now, he’s getting the bill. A legal filing obtained by Rolling Stone reveals that Lively claims she’s entitled to a little more than $8 million. Specifically, Lively wants Baldoni to pay “reasonable” attorney fees totaling $7,495,526.87 and additional costs that come to $539,514.01.
It turns out lawyering is expensive, as the filing’s charts, tables, footnotes, exhibits, and appendixes explain (and yes, because they’re lawyers, they billed for the time they spent creating the filing and its miscellany). Apparently Baldoni is getting something of a deal, since the filing notes “all time billed to Lively reflects 10 and 15 percent discounts from [her legal teams Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips’] standard rates.” It seems like the only winners after all this litigation are the lawyers.
Michael J. Gottlieb, a partner in Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, disclosed in a declaration that his standard hourly rate was $2,795 as of the fourth quarter of 2025, but he cut Lively a deal and charged her only $2,187 an hour. The 224 hours of work he performed for Lively, he said, was worth $457,000 in fees. Gottlieb’s declaration goes lawyer by lawyer, listing their rates, with a chart at the end showing that the median rate for all lawyers was $1,450 per hour.
One member of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP added lines for her time calculating all these numbers, which took 4.3 hours on May 31, totaling $2,941.20 — essentially a bill for a bill.
In the filing, Lively’s lawyers say there’s a reason for their meticulousness. “Before this litigation began, Steve Sarowitz — the billionaire financier of Wayfarer Studios and Justin Baldoni — threatened that if Blake Lively ever ‘crossed the line,’ he would use his vast personal fortune to destroy Lively and her husband, comparing his plan to a holy war,” the introduction states. After Lively filed a suit alleging sexual harassment and retaliation against Baldoni, he countersued her for $400 million, claiming defamation.
“The Wayfarer Parties employed scorched-earth litigation tactics designed to drain Lively’s resources,” her lawyers claim, adding, “They could have ended it (and offered to reimburse Lively) at any time. Having refused to do so, they should be ordered to reimburse Lively for all of the costs, attorney’s fees, and expenses they improperly forced her to incur.” A rep for Baldoni did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
Lively accused Baldoni in December 2024 of harassing her on the set of It Ends With Us and subsequently plotting a smear campaign against her. He even tried to drag Taylor Swift into his countersuit, though his team’s efforts to depose the pop star failed. Lively and Baldoni announced they were settling the legal actions in May.
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“We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognise concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard,” Lively and Baldoni said in a joint statement. “We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman ruled earlier in June that Baldoni was on the hook for the fees.
From Rolling Stone US
