Reuters, NYT, WSJ, and ABA Journal are all reporting on a movement to rein in high legal fees and costs in bankruptcy matters.
I wasn't surprised about the sorts of abuses being alleged, but I was a little surprised that the Trustees may not have made use of the basic techniques that big corporate clients have develped to control legal costs. Some of those abuses mentioned in those articles are simply impossible to pull off for law firms operating under standard Outside Counsel Guidelines. A massive body of work has been done by corporate American and the ACC in this field. Entire conferences are devoted to it. It may be helpful to send the Trustees and some federal judges to the conferences so they can better understand how savvy purchasers of legal services play the game these days.
Update: The letter from the big firms, objecting to the proposed controls on fees and costs, is below.