According to Bloomberg, Weil Gotshal charges $990 an hour for the use of its U.S.-based attorneys and $1,000 an hour for it top lawyers abroad. The rates were set Jan. 1 and were revealed in a regulatory filing submitted yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

Although such rates are not unprecedented, they certainly are at the top end of the spectrum, according to Stephen French, managing partner of Legalbill, which provides companies with analysis of legal costs.

“A thousand dollars an hour is high by any measure,” French told Bloomberg.

Weil Gotshal partner Harvey Miller is the main lawyer for Lehman and he declined to comment on the story.  According to a March 2009 court filing, Weil Gotshal charged a top rate last year of $950 for U.S. lawyers and $1,170 for overseas partners, Bloomberg reports.

Lehman Brothers reported assets of $639 billion when it filed for bankruptcy in September 2008. It is in the process of liquidating to pay off its creditors. According to Bloomberg, there have been no major objections into what advisers such as Weil Gotshal are being paid.

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Reisman was appointed by Judge Allan L. Gropper of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. He will be assisted by other Curtis lawyers, including Lynn P. Harrison III, T. Barry Kingham and Jerrold Bregman.

The funds in question should have been in a Drier client escrow account.  Dreier had accumulated the roughly $38.5 million in cash from prosecuting actions that it brought as counsel to the committee appointed under 360networks’ Chapter 11 plan. The funds were to be shared among the reorganized telecommunications company and its creditors pursuant to the plan.

Dreier LLP collapsed after Marc Dreier, the firm’s founder and managing partner, was arrested in Toronto in December for allegedly impersonating another lawyer. He was arrested again in New York upon his return on securities and wire fraud charges that prosecutors say may have cost investors $380 million.

Via The NLJ.

• Dreier Firm Faces Eviction
• Former Dreier Partners Could Face Liability
• Dreier Formally Indicted On Securities & Wire Fraud Charges
• Dreier Indicted in Federal Court (UPDATE)
• Cha Ching! Weil Gotshal Earning Big Money in Lehman Case