Perhaps it was inevitable that, given emotionally charged nature of the process, Irving Picard would be heavily criticized for his work winding down the Bernard Madoff mess. We've noted that the revenue generated by Picard's law firm, Baker & Hostetler, amounted to $288 million as of the end of 2010. The tab will likely grow to more than $1 billion, which has lifted Baker & Hostetler into another law firm league in terms of revenue.

Rates have run higher than $700 an hour in some cases, thanks to relatively new partner Picard, but the barbs are being sharpened. One lawyer for Madoff victims tells the Washington Post the revenue is "shocking and unconscionable." There are several issues here. For one thing, the Madoff trustee job was awarded without competitive bidding. Another issue: the fees, if the approval continue, could exhaust the SIPC fund.

The SIPC says it $1.3 billion on hand and receives $450 million a year from brokerage firms for the fund. So a public bailout does not seem evident anytime soon. But especially if other brokerages run into big problems, the fund could be strained. Bankrupcty is a huge business, it keeps on paying long after the company itself is all but dead.

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