When Hawaiian real estate developer Aina Lea Inc. filed for bankruptcy late last month, it owed Greenberg Traurig, Nixon Peabody and several other law firms nearly $900,000.

And Aina Lea, the company behind an unfinished residential development on Hawaii's big island worth a reported $1 billion, is now looking to hire a bevy of legal advisers, including Greenberg Traurig and Honolulu's Choi & Ito, to guide it through a Chapter 11 case.

Aina Lea filed a Chapter 11 petition on June 22 in Hawaii federal bankruptcy court, listing estimated liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million against assets between $100 million and $500 million. Among a list of the real estate developer's largest unsecured creditors, three of the top 10 are Am Law 200 firms. The company said it owed $253,685 to Nixon Peabody; $242,523 to Greenberg Traurig; and $77,621 to Pryor Cashman.