Pillsbury’s Fees Docked by Bankruptcy Judge for ‘Over-Lawyering’

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP overcharged for its services in a luxury California hotel owner’s bankruptcy and must cut its fees by about $1 million to $5.3 million, a judge said.

Pillsbury often had more attorneys than necessary work on tasks related to the bankruptcy and frequently used expensive senior attorneys for work that could be done by cheaper members of the firm, Judge John Dorsey of the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware said in a Tuesday decision.

“It is clear from the invoices that there was little effort by Pillsbury to staff the case efficiently or ...