^*Bringing Cook back on the scene proved difficult. When he had broken with Cook the year before, Hughes had severed nearly all his ties with Cook’s law firm, Andrews, Kurth, although the firm did continue to represent the oil-tool division of Hughes’s empire. At the time of the break, Hughes had an unpaid legal bill of $386,881. Before Andrews, Kurth would allow Cook to resume work for Hughes, they insisted that Hughes pay his bill. He thought the amount was excessive and refused. By making a $100,000 good-faith payment, and promising to pay most of the balance, Hughes was able to persuade the Houston firm to reassign Cook to the Hughes account.