Corporate & Securities Law

The Price of Excellence

By John Wallbillich

Harvey Miller of Weil Gotshal gets a glowing write-up today in the Father’s Day edition of the Detroit Free Press.

GM wanted the best for their fast-track, “quick rinse” Chapter 11 filing, and it doesn’t come cheap:

Weil, Gotshal & Manges has about 25 lawyers working on the GM bankruptcy, and GM has already paid the law firm $54 million for services incurred in the past six months and as advance payments to cover some of the Chapter 11 case, according to court records.

The firm’s normal hourly rate for lawyers ranges from $650 to $950. Associate lawyers’ hourly rates range from $355 to $640.

(I say make that $640/hr associate a partner!).

Mr. Miller is clearly dedicated to his clients and craft, and while it pays well, it does come at a cost:

He once told the Wall Street Journal that he decided early in life to skip having children because it would only get in the way of his law practice.

“Children would have been an added pressure,” Miller reportedly said. “You have to have time to give them love, and I didn’t.”

Given the astounding workload (he’s still guiding the Lehman Brothers case), and the early stage of the GM bankruptcy, we might assume that Mr. Miller had to work today.

Hopefully most of the father-attorneys out there, on this their day, didn’t.

Full post as published by The Wired GC on June 21, 2009 (boomark / email).