Lamb McErlane has been ordered to disgorge millions in estate fees after billing nearly $6 million to the estate of Sir John Thouron. The firm is appealing the adjudication, which said the firm breached its fiduciary duty to the estate.

Chester County Court of Common Pleas Judge Mark Tunnell Jr. disallowed more than $4.3 million in legal fees Lamb McErlane billed in its work for Charles Norris as executor of Thouron's estate. The firm was allowed to keep $1 million in fees, but filed an appeal in the Pennsylvania Superior Court earlier this month.

“While [Lamb McErlane partner Vincent] Donohue did a number of things the court would expect an executor to do, and deserves compensation for that work, there is no apparent reason why the day-to-day activities he was commissioned to help manage could not have been done less expensively and perhaps more efficiently by a professional administrator who would not have charged a law firm senior partner's billing rate,” Tunnell wrote in a 211-page opinion filed May 2. “Norris marshaled his resources without regard to efficiency and the net effect was a very large legal bill from the Lamb firm, month in and month out.”