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GM's principal bankruptcy counsel, Harvey Miller at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Martin Bienenstock of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, will be rewarded handsomely based on previous high-profile bankruptcy cases such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s filing in September. Experts predicted last fall that Lehman's Chapter 11 filing could generate $1.4 billion in fees. And for the period between September and December 2008, Weil Gotshal charged $55 million in legal fees alone while other firms charged an additional $110 million. Miller's billable hours were 794.8 at $950 per hour, while associates' time was billed at $495 to $600 per hour; paralegals and other support staff were billed out at $150 to $210 per hour. Meanwhile, GM is probably not getting Bienenstock for less than Miller, who is sometimes referred to as the dean of the bankruptcy bar. In fact, Bienenstock may actually bill at a higher rate than Miller. Back in 2001, Bienenstock billed bankrupt G-I Holdings Inc. the same $950 an hour as Miller charged Lehman in 2008, according to The Deal Pipeline's league table of hourly fees of debtor counsels (subscribers see the table). If those fees sound like a lot of money, they barely crack the top 10 of hourly fees for debtor counsel. Topping the list at $980 per hour is Mark Thompson of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, who is representing Qimonda Richmond, a semiconductor manufacturer that filed Chapter 11 in February. What GM's bankruptcy fee will be is anybody's guess, but Bloomberg suggested in February that a GM bankruptcy could cost $1.2 billion. The total will obviously be based on whether it's a long drawn out bankruptcy such as Lehman's or a short one -- which the Obama administration would like for GM and its smaller peer Chrysler LLC. One thing's for sure: GM's bankruptcy threat has already set off a wave of auto industry filings, which is creating plenty of work for bankruptcy lawyers (not only in Detroit, but also Wilmington, Del., and New York), making even more financial winners out of the fall of America's former industrial icon. - Gerald Magpily See related story about Miller from Dealscape
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From: Erin,
Actually, "crack" is correct because its referring to "fees", which is plural
Posted on:
June 10, 2009 4:25 PM
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The possible General Motors Corp.'s (NYSE:GM) 
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In the 5th graph, "cracks" should be singular. Sorry, I have to point out typos. I can't help it.