Legal News

The Jones Day Bankruptcy Billing Machine

By Nathan Koppel

About now, as our thoughts frankly turn to the weekend, we feel a pang of sympathy for the Chrysler bankruptcy team at Jones Day. They have so many miles to go before they sleep.

But, at least, they are well paid for the troubles. The Dealscape blog has a nice post spelling out just how well paid they are.

Based on court filings, Jones Day partner John Cornell will be billing $950 per hour. He specializes in employee benefits, a legal topic that we’re guessing will get a bit of a workout in the Chrysler case.

Corinne Ball, (pictured) the head debtor's counsel, and her colleague David Heiman, each clock in at $900 per hour. All told, 18 Jones Day partners are working on the case.

So how do these impressive billing rates rank in the grand bankruptcy scheme of things?

Cornell, according to Dealscape, does not even rank in the top 15 fee earners in the bankruptcy bar, a list that includes Mark Thompson (Simpson Thacher) at $980 per hour and Jonathan Landers, who used to bill out at $955 per hour at Gibson Dunn. Click here for an LB post on Landers and the work he is doing at Milberg, his new home.

For those keeping score at home, Dealscape reports that Cornell's billing rate is on par with Harvey Miller at Weil and Martin Bienenstock at Dewey LeBoeuf.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 01, 2009 (boomark / email).