Milbank has applied to represent the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Lehman bankruptcy case, a process which involves an exhaustive look at all of Milbank's potential conflicts, including Milbank lawyers who have husbands, wives and domestic partners at Weil Gotshal & Manges, the law firm representing Lehman.
The financial details of the application reveal that Lehman owes Milbank $2,847,153.30 (£1.8m) in unpaid bills, which Milbank has agreed not to collect for now. In the calendar year before Lehman went bankrupt, Milbank billed Lehman for nearly $4.3m (£2.7m). In total, bills to Lehman or its subsidiaries amounted to 1.84% of Milbank's gross revenue in 2008.
In comparison, Weil Gotshal made $51.8m (£32.8m) from Lehman in the calendar year before the investment bank's collapse.
In 2007, payments from Lehman accounted for 2.95% of Milbank's gross revenue. Last year, Milbank grossed $642.5m (£406.5m), meaning Lehman's payments amounted to about $19m (£12m) for the year.
The application also revealed that one Milbank partner owned 2,000 shares of Lehman Brothers Holdings, and two others owned 1,000 shares each. These partners have been instructed to stop trading those shares.
The Am Law Daily is the website of The American Lawyer, Legal Week's US sister title.
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