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Lehman Bankruptcy Nets Record Fees for Lawyers

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 15, 2009 8:47 PM CDT

(Newser) – Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy filing is a gold mine for lawyers. One New York firm asked a bankruptcy judge this week to authorize a $55 million payment—the largest quarterly fee ever for a bankruptcy case, the Wall Street Journal reports. When all is said and done, this firm alone—Weil, Gotshal & Manges—is likely to rake in $200 million, another record for debtor counseling.

The firm says it worked more than 100,000 billable hours from September to January; that includes 795 hours by the lead lawyer, who makes just shy of $1,000 for each one. Also included: $200,000 for business meals and $287,000 to make copies of all those pages. A dozen other firms also are on the case and have so far billed $27 million. The grand total of court-approved fees is likely to be about $900 million, an expert tells the Journal.

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In this 2008 file photo, people work inside the Lehman Brothers headquarters in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file)

In this 2008 file photo, office workers are seen through a window silhouetted against a wall of the Lehman Brothers headquarters in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer/file)

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As Lehman's employees rushed out of Lehman's offices with boxes and suitcases filled with their belongings, (Weil) attorneys rushed in. - Law firm's filing seeking payment
for legal work

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