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Sidley Tops $100M in Tribune Bankruptcy

January 15, 2013 | Posted in : Bankruptcy Fees / Expenses

A recent AM Law Daily story, “The Bankruptcy Files: Sidley Tops $100 Million Mark in Tribune Case,” reports that as of November 30, 2012, Sidley Austin has billed the Tribune Company almost $105 million in legal fees and expenses for its work guiding the Chicago-based media giant through multiple bankruptcy battles in Delaware, according to court filings. 

Roughly 100 Sidley lawyers worked on the case, according to a quarterly fee application filed last summer by the firm, with corporate partners Larry Barden and Michael Hyatte, restructuring partner Bryan Krakauer, and bankruptcy corporate reorganization co-chair James Conlan and Larry Nyhan all billing Tribune $1,000 an hour for their services.

While legal fees in most large corporate bankruptcies are usually equal to 3 to 4 percent of the company’s total value, in Tribune’s case the figure was double that at more than $500 million due to the long-running nature of the litigation and the company’s sliding valuation, according to a report last week by the Chicago Tribune. 

Big though they may be, legal fees amassed by Tribune still pale in comparison to what Lehman Brothers racked up during its nearly four years in Chapter 11.  Weil Gotshal & Manges – hired as lead bankruptcy counsel to the now defunct investment bank in that case, which drew to a close last year – reaped roughly $442 million in legal fees and expenses.