Court filings in bankruptcy cases provide a rare glimpse at how much top lawyers charge for their services -- prices that regularly exceed $1,000 an hour, to the dismay of some at the Justice Department who want firms that work on big bankruptcy cases to provide more detailed rate disclosures.

But $1,000 an hour is chump change compared to what former Solicitor General Theodore Olson bills per hour: an eye-popping $1,800, according to court filings in the bankruptcy case of LightSquared Inc., the wireless-networking venture...