Lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis and Sidley Austin charge some of the highest rates in the city. But when it comes bankruptcy, their median billing rates still don’t come close to their peers at New York firms.
That’s one of the interesting facts that emerge from American Lawyer’s analysis of bankruptcy billing rates submitted by law firms in the nation’s two busiest courts, Delaware and the southern district of New York. Click here for the magazine’s online story that appeared Wednesday.
Some other interesting details:
* Kirkland’s Jamie Sprayregen billed $965 an hour for work on the bankruptcies of Lear Corp. and The Reader’s Digest Association.
* Sidley’s median rate of $700 an hour is hardly a bargain but it was nearly 30 percent less the $980 that Simpson Thacher & Bartlett charges.
* Several lawyers charge more than $1,000 an hour, but the article did not mention anyone from Chicago.
The article made me curious to see what lawyers in the the bankruptcies of two media companies that I’m familiar with, Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, and Sun-Times Media Group, are charging. Both cases are in Delaware.
Kirkland represents the Sun-Times. In its most recent fee application, restructuring partner James Stempel topped the rate chart with an hourly fee of $860 an hour. Since March 31 when the company filed for bankruptcy, the law firm has requested fees totaling more than $2 million.
Sidley represents Tribune Co. In its most recent fee application, restructuring partner James Conlan topped the rate chart with an hourly fee of $925 an hour.