When the nearly decade-long proceedings in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy finally went to trial last year, investors who said they were hurt by the bank’s collapse wanted to pick $11.4 billion off the bones of its estate.

But a team led by Willkie Farr & Gallagher partner Todd Cosenza representing the plan administrators for Lehman lowballed the trustees by $9 billion, arguing that the fair and reasonable payout for all creditors was $2.38 billion.