According to the article, the idea of offering alternative fee structures has been batted around in the legal community for years.

But why hasn’t it been implemented?

David Smith, managing partner of the firm Stoll Keenan Ogden, one of several attorneys who were interviewed for the bizlex piece, cited several factors as to why the time is ripe to consider options beside the per-hour rate: “‘… from decades of chatter about the hourly rate, frustration with people as far as how much legal fees cost, (client) frustration with the continuing inflation of hourly rates … the financial crisis, and particularly businesses that use legal services from large law firms are very squeezed, … they’re searching for cost savings.’”

What it comes down to is how much firms value the attorney-client relationship.  Most firms have enjoyed long-standing relationships that span years.  To put it simply, the old adage of sticking together through thick and thin couldn’t be more apt for both firms and their clients.  Sticking together sometimes means creative thinking and offering alternatives that help everyone’s bottom line.

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• Sidley Austin Charges $1100 Per Hour in Tribune Bankruptcy
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Tribune, the Chicago-based newspaper publisher, filed for bankruptcy on December 8th.

The company sought court approval to pay Sidley’s bankruptcy group $575 to $1,100 an hour for partners, $400 to $875 an hour for counsel and senior counsel, $240 to $650 an hour for associates, and $95 to $385 an hour for paraprofessionals.

“That’s the highest hourly rate I have seen or heard of for a bankruptcy lawyer,” said Lynn LoPucki, professor of bankruptcy law at the University of California Los Angeles.

Weil Gotshal partners charge $650 to $950 an hour on Lehman, which filed the biggest bankruptcy in history September 15th with $613 billion in debt.

In the year before its bankruptcy, Tribune paid Sidley almost $3 million in fees, plus $52,000 in expenses for restructuring work and preparation of filings. Those sums were taken out of advance retainers of $4.5 million.

Via Bloomberg.

• Cha Ching! Weil Gotshal Earning Big Money in Lehman Case
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• Morning Roundup

Rosenthal piled up millions of dollars in fees with the approval of his former law school pal, disgraced ex-Surrogate Court Judge Michael Feinberg.

On December 4th, the state Appellate Division disbarred Feinberg, and suspended Rosenthal from practicing law for two years.

From 1992 to 2002, Judge Feinberg awarded Rosenthal nearly $9 million in fees. He regularly awarded his buddy 8% of the estates’ assets, while lawyers in other boroughs typically received 6% or less.

Instead of filing the required affidavits, Rosenthal submitted fee requests on Post-it notes.

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