General Motors has paid out more than $80m (£49m) over the past six months to the three firms advising on the troubled automaker's Chapter 11 case, reports the Am Law Daily.

Weil Gotshal & Manges, Jenner & Block and Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn have all filed their applications for employment as counsel to GM. As lead bankruptcy counsel, Weil Gotshal has the lion's share of the billings at more than $54m (£33m) – roughly equivalent to the $55m that Weil billed Lehman Brothers between September 2008 and January 2009.

Weil bankruptcy partners Stephen Karotkin, Harvey Miller and Joseph Smolinsky appear on the filing – the firm states that the partners advising GM are billing $650-$950 (£400-£580) per hour with associates billing at hourly rates of $355-$640 (£220-£390). Weil was paid a $5.9m (£3.6m) retainer, part of which it intends to apply to "any outstanding amounts" that were "not processed through [Weil's] billing system" prior to the firm being retained as bankruptcy counsel.

Meanwhile, Jenner, which has been retained as general corporate and conflicts counsel to GM, has billed for nearly $11.3m (£6.9m) in fees and expenses since being retained on 11 December. The firm agreed to waive another $180,000 (£110,000) in fees it was due to receive over the next two years related to several product liability cases it was handling for GM.

Jenner bankruptcy practice chair Daniel Murray and corporate reorganisation partners Patrick Trostle and Heather McArn are advising GM. Partners from the firm bill $440-$960 (£270-£590) per hour, counsel $385-$725 (£230-£440), and associates at hourly rates ranging from $275 (£170) to $520 (£320). The firm was initially paid a $6.5m (£4m) retainer, of which $384,906.47 (£235,000) remains.

Detroit-based firm Honigman Miller Schwartz, special counsel to GM, also racked up $15.1m (£9.2m) worth of billable time for the company during the past year.

Last month's court filings in Chrysler's Chapter 11 case revealed that Jones Day had billed the automaker for $18.5m (£11.3m) in fees and expenses.

The Am Law Daily is the website of The American Lawyer, Legal Week's US sister title.