How Long Does it Take to Litigate a Supreme Court Case?

I've obtained a copy of the attorneys' fee application in the Michigan wine case.  (It's here.)  The entire motion is interesting reading, as it demonstrates how many hours it takes even top Supreme Court lawyers like Ken Starr and Katheleen Sullivan to brief and prepare for an argument in a Supreme Court case.  (Starr billed for 53 hours on the case, Sullivan billed for 96, and Starr's associates spent 155 hours on the case.)  According to the fee application, the plaintiffs' lawyers spent over 1,100 hours preparing the case for presentation to the Supreme Court:

Plaintiffs have requested an award of attorney’s fees for 2176.55 hours of legal work. The affidavits and time records submitted as exhibits 1-15 show that plaintiffs’ attorneys devoted approximately 160 hours to preliminary fact and legal investigation, 80 hours to discovery, 420 hours to ten pretrial motions including five dispositive motions, 300 hours to researching, briefing and arguing the case in the Sixth Circuit, 1100 hours for proceedings and argument in the Supreme Court, and 90 hours on negotiations with state officials and final proceedings in the District Court. These numbers are approximate because it has not always been possible to assign time expended to one category rather than another where they overlap.

Also of note is that one of the lead lawyers is a law professor.  The award of attorney's fees should nicely augment his salary.