May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Chrysler LLC, the bankrupt automaker, may pay an estimated $200 million to lawyers and other professionals helping it try to create a more viable carmaker in partnership with Italy’s Fiat SpA.

The third-largest U.S. automaker already has paid Jones Day lawyers $18.9 million in retainers since November to avoid, and then prepare for, the company’s Chapter 11 proceeding, according to court documents. Lawyers, bankers and accountants may reap more than 10 times that amount in court-approved fees by the time the case ends, said Stephen Lubben, who teaches bankruptcy- law at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey, and keeps a database on fees.

Chrysler, with about 54,000 employees, listed yearend 2008 assets of about $39.3 billion and liabilities totaling $55.2 billion in court documents. It aims to sell its best assets -- which include its Jeep brand and Dodge Ram pickups -- to Fiat, using bankruptcy law to wind up its liabilities.

The automaker’s lead lawyers at Jones Day, led by restructuring partner Corinne Ball, will charge Chrysler as much as $950 an hour, according to court filings. Ball’s billing rate as of April 2009 was $900 an hour, as was her colleague David Heiman’s, according to the filing.

Two Years

Lubben’s estimate, based on Chrysler’s reported assets and liabilities, assumes it may take two years to wrap up the Chrysler bankruptcy, he said.

A bankruptcy of Chrysler’s larger rival General Motors Corp., if it happened, would throw off double the amount of fees, he estimated.

Washington-based Jones Day has 2,400 lawyers in 32 offices around the world.

A Jones Day spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment yesterday.

The case is In re. Chrysler LLC, 09-50002, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Scinta in New York bankruptcy court at cscinta@bloomberg.net; Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 2, 2009 00:30 EDT