Business of Law
Bankruptcy Lawyer Bills $950/Hour, Finds Out-of-Office Work Can Be Productive
William Lobel retired from Irell & Manella in 2008. But now the 67-year-old Southern California lawyer has a new gig—running his own law firm.
At $950 per billable hour, he is perhaps the most expensive bankruptcy lawyer in the area, according to the Orange County Register. But that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily in the office—or expecting his associates to put in face time throughout the working day.
“I have a lawyer who gives me 100 hours a month who lives in France and doesn’t meet clients face to face. I have another who works from home and I’m ready to hire another to work from home,” he tells the newspaper. “When I go on cruises, I still put in six, eight hours a day.”
