Weil Gotshal set to pass $100m mark for Lehman bankruptcy fees
Weil Gotshal & Manges is set to cross the $100m (£60.5m) mark in total billings on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy after the firm filed its second application for legal fees and expenses. The second application covers the four-month period from 1 February to 31 May, and comes just days after the approval of Weil's initial request for $55m (£33.3m) in fees and expenses for the period of 15 September 2008 to January 2009.
August 18, 2009 at 10:36 AM
3 minute read
Weil Gotshal & Manges is set to cross the $100m (£60.5m) mark in total billings on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy after the firm filed its second application for legal fees and expenses.
The second application covers the four-month period from 1 February to 31 May, and comes just days after the approval of Weil's initial request for $55m (£33.3m) in fees and expenses for the period of 15 September 2008 to January 2009.
That application was approved by a special fee committee headed up by Kenneth Feinberg – the Obama administration's pay czar.
The newest application shows that Weil lawyers billed more than 86,000 hours during those four months, which breaks down roughly to 700 hours per day, seven days a week. The request, which includes $45m (£27.2m) in fees and $1.2m (£730,000) in expenses, amounts to about $375,000 (£227,000) per day over those four months – equating to $15,500 (£9,400) worth of legal work every 24 hours.
The biggest billers were a collection of six City-based partners who billed $1,005 (£610) per hour after exchange rates – London office head Mike Francies, Matthew Shankland, Jacky Kelly, Sarah Priestly, Anthony Horspool and Andrew Norwood. Weil's bankruptcy chair Harvey Miller is billing $950 (£575) an hour.
The lawyer who racked up the most hours on the Lehman matter between February and May was bankruptcy associate Sunny Singh, who worked more than 988 hours during that period – equating to approximately eight hours a day, seven days a week.
Weil billed $693,000 (£420,000) in expenses for computer research and another $67,000 (£40,000) for meals. The firm says it is attempting to follow various billing guidelines set by Feinberg, including limiting meals to $20 (£12) per person and limiting late-night car service trips to $100 (£60) apiece.
The firm is continuing to unwind tens of thousands of derivatives contracts, attempting to track down borrowers who owe Lehman and working on more than a dozen transactions in which Lehman will unload (or has already unloaded) some of its most-prized assets in order to raise cash.
In all, Weil lawyers helped recover about $3bn (£1.8bn) in cash for Lehman's estate between February and May, the filing says.
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This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on americanlawyer.com.
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