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Bankruptcy judge slams Weil Gotshal for 'distinct lack of billing judgment'

A federal bankruptcy judge in Des Moines, Iowa, has slammed an attorney fee application by Weil Gotshal & Manges and reduced the law firm’s $1 million request by about half.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Anita Shodeen ruled Monday on Weil’s legal fee request in the bankruptcy of aerospace-parts manufacturer Wellman Dynamics Corp., the Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports. Weil, a bankruptcy powerhouse previously involved in several high-profile cases, represents Wellman’s largest lender.

Shodeen said Weil’s fee request was “staggering,” adding that its bills were not on par with fees charged by other professionals in the case. Weil lawyers charged hourly rates ranging from $510 to $1,350, and logged a high number of hours, according to Shodeen.

“During 18 days in September,” Shodeen wrote, “Weil logged 546.7 hours and fees of $428,418.50 resulting in an average daily burn rate of $23,801.03.”

Shodeen also questioned Weil’s staffing decisions. Multiple Weil lawyers apparently monitored hearings by phone, though recordings and transcripts were made available, she said. Lawyers appeared to be involved in ministerial tasks such as gathering and providing documents to local counsel and preparing exhibits.

Itemized time entries contained generic entries such as “ongoing case tasks,” and in some cases attorney time was lumped together into a single entry, making it difficult to parse the bills, Shodeen said.

“Based simply upon the number of attorneys and hours billed leads to the inherent conclusion that there was a distinct lack of billing judgment exercised by Weil,” Shodeen wrote.

Weil had argued the case was complex and it tried to be “as lean as possible” in handling the case. Shodeen disagreed.

“Based upon the amounts requested there appears to have been little, if any, effort to restrain the fees and costs incurred,” she wrote.

A Weil spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.