Detroit Fee Minder’s November Bill Tops $100,000

The man who’s watching the tab in Detroit’s historic bankruptcy filed his biggest monthly bill yet as he prepares to issue his first report on the bills of an army of lawyers and advisers working on the case.

Fee examiner Robert Fishman and his Chicago law firm, Shaw Fishman Glantz & Tobin LLC, on Tuesday filed a bill for $104,026.40 in fees and $34.25 in expenses with the Detroit bankruptcy court. Court papers show the charges cover the work that he and his colleagues performed throughout November.

Lawyers and advisers charge a pretty penny to shepherd a company—or, in Detroit’s case, a city—through bankruptcy. Their bills are subject to bankruptcy-court approval and public scrutiny, but the bigger the case, the more bills there are to sort through. So judges will sometimes appoint fee examiners like Mr. Fishman to pore over the bills and ferret out any inappropriate charges (like fancy dinners or luxury hotel stays) that may be lurking.

Detroit paid $17.2 million in legal and advisory fees before it even filed for bankruptcy last July, according to The Wall Street Journal. And between Detroit’s bankruptcy filing and Dec. 6, consultants received another $10.8 million.

As Mr. Fishman prepares to issue his first evaluation of the bankruptcy fees, which is due Feb. 4, his bills have been steadily increasing along with his time. The $104,026.40 charged in November—of which Mr. Fishman earned $24,540—tops the $60,993.30 in fees that he and his colleagues charged for October and the $23,568.50 charged in September.

Write to Jacqueline Palank at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @PalankJ.