CHICAGO (Bloomberg) — Sidley Austin lawyers are asking as much as $1,100 an hour for bankruptcy work on Tribune Co., surpassing the rates charged by Weil, Gotshal & Manges in the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. case, the largest in history.

Tribune, the Chicago-based newspaper publisher taken private by real-estate billionaire Sam Zell, filed bankruptcy on December 8. The company sought court approval in a December 26 filing to pay Sidley's bankruptcy group $575 to $1,100 an hour for partners, $400 to $875 an hour for counsel and senior counsel, $240 to $650 an hour for associates, and $95 to $385 an hour for paraprofessionals.

"That's the highest hourly rate I have seen or heard of for a bankruptcy lawyer," said Lynn LoPucki, who teaches bankruptcy law at the University of California at Los Angeles. "For the past 11 years the fees of bankruptcy professionals have been steadily rising — through good times and bad."

Weil Gotshal partners led by Harvey Miller charge $650 to $950 an hour on Lehman, which filed the biggest bankruptcy in history on September 15 with $613 billion in debt.

The Sidley fees are US rates starting January 1, according to the filing. James Conlan, co-chairman of Chicago-based Sidley's bankruptcy group, couldn't immediately be reached by phone and e-mail.

"Billing rates are that high in some boutique practice areas, but they rarely have to be disclosed like in bankruptcy filings," said Bruce MacEwen, a legal consultant based in New York.

Sidley, an 1,800-lawyer firm, requested fees of $575 to $1,000 an hour earlier this year for partners to advise Hilex Poly Co. in its bankruptcy, according to court filings. The Hartsville, South Carolina-based maker of plastic bag and film products sought bankruptcy court protection in May.