A collection of Legal Fee articles from around the internet…
The Bankruptcy Files: ‘Old GM’ Generates Some Big Legal Bills (AM Law Daily) – The General Motors bankruptcy (In re Motors Liquidation Company, et al. f/k/a General Motors Corp., et al.) has led to some high legal fees for the firms involved in the case. The final fee request for Weil, Gotshal & Mangesis almost 9.5 million, bringing their total request to 46.2 million dollars. Other firms including Jenner & Bock and Kramer Levin have multi-million dollar requests in.
Brown v. City of Pittsburgh, et. al (Sterling Analytics) – A recent court decision reduced requested attorneys’ fees based upon excessive time to complete a task. Courts recently have been taking note of the time billed for tasks, and when judges feel excessive time is being charged, have been slashing fee requests. In this case, certain preparation was found to be excessive and the judge reduced fees accordingly.
Legal Bills Submitted in Delta Bankruptcy Contain Large Amounts of “Improper” Block Billing (Sterling Analytics) In September 2005, Delta Air Lines filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. After 19 months, a reorganization plan was agreed upon in April 2007. Through the course of the bankruptcy, considerable amounts of attorneys’ fees were accumulated. Sterling Analytics, a legal cost consulting firm, audited a sample of the attorneys’ fees submitted from counsel for the debtor and counsel for the creditor committee. In total $870,000 in charges were reviewed for compliance with legal precedent and ethical standards. The audit determined $677,327, or 84%, of the charges to be objectionable.
Livingston Rakes in High Legal Costs Over Past Five Years (Merced Sun-Star) – One of the smallest cities in Merced County is paying some of the highest legal costs in the county. Livingston allegedly has spent almost $3.5 million defending itself from lawsuits over the past 5 years. The city has brought in a new manager and new city attorney in an attempt to reduce the fees, which primarily have come as a result of disputes with Foster Farms, a poultry manufacturer based in the city.
