NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Lawyers for investors who won a $586 million settlement from banks such as Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse Group AG in a lawsuit over initial public offerings of technology stocks want $245 million for themselves.

The plaintiffs' lawyers are seeking $195 million in fees and another $50 million in expenses, or about 42 percent of the settlement, according to a court filing today by an investor opposing a payment that large.

More than 50 underwriters have agreed to pay $586 million to settle claims stemming from the bursting of the Internet bubble in 2000, which led to lawsuits against 309 technology companies and the banks. US District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan gave tentative approval to the accord in June and will hold a hearing on September 10 to consider final approval and the request for legal fees.

"This court should not grant such a huge amount of money to class counsel," says a legal brief by lawyer Edward Siegel, who represents seven investors in the class action, or group, lawsuit. "Counsels request is almost three times as much as the average" payment to lawyers in group lawsuits settling for more than $100 million, he said in a brief filed yesterday.

At one time, plaintiffs' lawyers led by Melvyn Weiss, who has since been jailed in an unrelated kick-back scheme, demanded $12.5 billion to settle the case. The lesser settlement came amid the fiscal distress of the world's investment banks following the credit-market collapse.

According to Siegel, the plaintiffs' lawyers have said they spent 677,000 hours working on the case, which is worth $278 million. Since the case settled for $586 million, the lawyers are seeking one-third of that amount, plus expenses.

Stanley Bernstein, the lead lawyer for the group of investors who brought the case, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.