Casey Anthony's Attorney Jose Baez -- Negotiating Big Money Deal with Networks

Jose Baez -- Casey Anthony's lawyer -- is holed up at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City, holding court with all of the major networks -- to determine who will score the first interview with Casey -- and big bucks are involved.



Sources tell TMZ ... NBC, ABC and CBS are all competing for the first interview.  Sources connected with the negotiations tell TMZ there is a "big price tag" for the interview.  We're told the networks -- which say they don't pay for interviews -- are offering to license photos and other material and pay big bucks ... that's S.O.P. in the network game.

We're told NBC looks like the frontrunner so far, but ABC is in the game.  We're told CBS "is a distant third."  We're told NBC is paying for Baez' hotel room.

Baez spent part of the night Thursday in the Mandarin Oriental bar with famed lawyer Mark Geragos (right) -- who knows a thing or two about high-profile cases.  We're told Geragos gave Baez pointers on negotiating the deal.