Chrysler LLC has paid Jones Day more than $18.8 million over the past six months for legal work related to the ailing carmaker’s Chapter 11 restructuring.
That’s according to an application to employ Jones Day as counsel for debtors and debtors in possession, filed Thursday, the same day the Auburn Hills, Mich., carmaker sought bankruptcy protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
Some $13 million already has been used for prepetition services, according to the application; the remaining $5.7 million is being held in retainer.
The application also lists the names and billing rates of some of the attorneys working on the case, including one business restructuring partner from Atlanta, Jeffrey B. Ellman. Ellman bills at $725 per hour, the fourth highest rate listed in the rate schedule. New York employee benefits and executive compensation attorney John R. Cornell claims the highest hourly rate, at $950.
Ellman is one of three primary lawyers on the case. The others are lead counsel Corinne Ball of the firm’s New York office and David G. Heiman of the firm’s Cleveland office. Both bill at $900 per hour.
Rate ranges for other lawyers and professionals who may be tapped to work on the restructuring are as follows:
Partners: $425-$950
Of counsel: $375-$800
Counsel: $300-$625
Associates: $175-$625
Staff attorneys: $225-$450
Paralegals: $150-$350
Project assistants and other staff: $50-$375
Other firms which Chrysler has so far filed applications to employ are Schulte Roth & Zabel as debtors counsel and Togut, Segal & Segal as conflicts counsel. Neither firm has a Georgia office.