At White & Case, Top Lawyers Bill as Much as $1,260 an Hour

B. McLeod
Dec 8, 2008 9:02 AM CST

How funny.  It’s like a lawyer joke, only they’re really doing it!  At $21 a minute, you wouldn’t want to talk to one of these people at a party or a bar function.  If you aks them where the restroom is, you’ll probably get a bill in the mail for $127.05, for the 3 seconds it took them to answer the question, plus the six minutes it took to record and submit the charge through their billing department.

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Ex Big Firm Guy
Dec 8, 2008 2:19 PM CST

As a former big firm lawyer and current consumer of legal services (when I have to), I agree that these rates seem crazy, and in many cases the other posters may be right - there is a lot of work that could instead be sent to smaller firms that cost a lot less, without any drop in quality.  However, I worked on a whole lot of deals that NO small firm could ever handle. No disrespect to their legal acumen - in fact, I have worked with some truly first-rate small firm lawyers who could work circles around some of the lazy pompous windbags at the big firms - but sometimes you simply need an army of bodies to get a deal done.  Clients should be smarter - like sending the small work to small firms.  But god help the large company that thinks it can save a few bucks on a large transaction by sending it to a small firm.

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B. McLeod
Dec 9, 2008 10:00 AM CST

“Opposing counsel”?  These must have been interesting projects.  I wonder who “won” the transactions.

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Adam at BigLaw
Dec 11, 2008 4:11 PM CST

I’m sorry, but I can’t agree that “the same service for $350 an hour by using a small midwest firm” is generally even applicable.  Primarily, a small midwest firm will typically not be involved in a deal of the type in which White & Case is typically involved.  Merely picking ONE example:

White & Case lawyers completed a market-leading trio of deals worth $13 billion in 24 hours over June 16 and 17, 2008.  The string of headline-grabbing deals, which involved more than 100 lawyers from London, Moscow, Tokyo, Washington DC, Istanbul and Ankara offices, are all individually significant in terms of their size and importance.

In the first of the three transactions, White & Case advised on the $5.3 billion project financing for the $20 billion Sakhalin LNG project – a deal that set a string of firsts. The deal represents the world’s largest limited recourse oil and gas financing, as well as Russia’s largest-ever foreign investment and project financing. The project off Russia’s Pacific Coast includes an integrated oil and gas production project comprising three offshore platforms, onshore processing facilities, two 800km pipelines, an oil export terminal and a two train LNG production facility. This deal, which involved a significant number of partners and associates, was almost five years in the making.

With the ink barely dry on the many Sakhalin agreements, a team of project finance lawyers was also signing up a major project financing for the development of a 1.9GW power portfolio in Turkey. The initial €1 billion ($1.57 billion)  financing will allow for the expansion of EnerjiSA’s hydro-electric and thermal power plants.

On the same day, a team of more than 30 lawyers were signing the largest private equity deal in the world this year as White & Case advised Angel Trains, a leading provider of railway rolling stock in both the UK and Continental Europe, on its sale by Royal Bank of Scotland to a consortium of investors for £3.6 billion ($7.1 billion).

A midwestern law firm will not be handling this.  In fact, a decently-sized NY or multi-office firm will not be handling this.  White & Case has 2300+ attorneys - not all bill at $1200/hr.  Moreover, when a company is engaged in a multi-BILLION dollar deal, they want somebody familiar with their particular situation who is an unquestioned expert in this exact matter.  If the deal falls through, by non-performance etc., would this large company want to then find ANOTHER firm, big or small, who must then become acclimated with the thousands of documents from the transaction? Of course not. That is again why they need multi-functional firms. White & Case has been named Litigation Team of the Year by The Lawyer. A client, by investing in the prime firms earlier, avoids the possibility of adversarial legal processes; if a suit arises, it will be revolving around billions of dollars, and the attorneys’ fees, in proportion, are not that significant. There’s nothing wrong with small firms in the least, but make sure to remember that there’s nothing wrong with mega-firms either.

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Donald W Parkyn
Dec 12, 2008 7:12 AM CST

After an attorney had been paid for services, I asked for a cite to a case she used.  She gave me the cite and responded “no charge”  I tehn received a statement for $75 which I questioned.  The reason for the charge:  “there was no charge for the cite, but we have a minimum billing charge for each billing entry.”

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Solo Practioner in NYC
Dec 12, 2008 8:23 AM CST

I should raise my rates for New York after reading this.  Just kidding, I only charge what I am comfortable with and ripping off clients is not my business.

As for Adam at BigLaw, I would be concerned about the empire starting to crumble.  A BigLaw firm involved in civil litigation with myself or my colleagues have brought in teams of lawyers and have lost.  The intimidation game is cute for hollywood movies, but I have seen no difference in the quality of work from one big firm to another.  If you ask me, the more lawyers messing with your briefs is causing more harm and help.

In any case, big corporate clients are always changing their spending habits.  Many used to employ in house and that subsided over the years.  The billable hour is a joke at $500 an hour or higher.  I equate this situation with buying name brand versus generic products at the store.  You’ll get the same results, but your wallet will feel better:)

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B. McLeod
Dec 12, 2008 8:47 AM CST

That did look like an ad for White & Case.  However, it suggested that when transactions go south (perhaps from being slapped together in three days’ time when they reasonably required a week) this “expert” firm will also gladly elbow its way into litigating the mitigation attempt.  Perhaps because other litigation firms, unfamiliar with the resplendent infallibility of White & Case, might waste time examining the transaction to see if there were legal errors by the firm that might have contributed to the problem.  I thank the poster for cogently illustrating how having 2300 attorneys does not mean a firm will competently analyze conflicts.  I hope the liability carrier for White & Case follows these posts.

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overpriced wall street crooks
Dec 12, 2008 8:48 AM CST

Anything more than $500 an hour better come with an escort in NY.

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Steve
Dec 12, 2008 8:51 AM CST

I would rather pay someone $1200 who knows the issues in my exact problem rather than pay someone $300 an hour to spin their wheels.  They MIGHT come to the same conclusion, but if I have a multi-billion dollar deal or company, why would I take that chance?

That is smart economics.

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Mike
Dec 12, 2008 9:08 AM CST

I could charge those kind of rates, too.  Heck, we all could.  However I don’t have clients that would pay them. 

The billable hour is like everything else in the economy.  It will be set by what someone is willing and able to pay.  If White and Case and CC Sabathia have found someone willing to pay an astronomical amount for their services, God bless them!

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Brian
Dec 12, 2008 10:01 AM CST

Time to adjust my consulting fees.

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Charles W. Skinner
Dec 12, 2008 10:02 AM CST

Just for clarification, the 3 deals that White & Case did above, were COMPLETED within 24 hours of each other, not DONE COMPLETELY in 24 hours.  It appears that each deal was a multi-year project, that had sufficient time and attention devoted to it in order to be properly completed.

On routine matters, I concur with most of the comments here, that a billable rate of $300 to $500 is appropriate.  However, when you need a particular expert in a field, or a ‘Big Gun’ to ward off the potential challenges, sometimes it is worth the expense of an $1200 / hour expert lawyer with a small army of attorneys standing behind him ready to litigate.

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Barry
Dec 12, 2008 10:22 AM CST

Just to make a tangential point that has been raised in this thread, you do not need to go to the midwest to get sophisticated legal counsel billing in the $300-400 range.  Many firms in the burbs do it, with many ex-manhatan lawyers from the big firms.

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J.D.
Dec 12, 2008 10:38 AM CST

I wonder WHAT the Supreme Court is going to say behind closed doors TODAY regarding the next Obama citizenship case?

Probably will have to wait until Monday to hear their decision…

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Terry Kenneally
Dec 12, 2008 1:19 PM CST

As a lawyer who has been practicing for 30 years I am appalled at the content of this story.  I have tried almost 400 jury trials (first chair) which is probably more than all the trials the partners combined at this firm have tried.  News like this not only sickens me professionally but the hourly rate quoted is enough to make me throw up.

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Bhurtel
Dec 12, 2008 2:15 PM CST

We do not know what kind of issue was involved and what kind of experince and knowledge was required for those work where fee was $ 1260. What kind of risk was involve. 
If it was regular work then it might be questionable but if it was higly complex and required extra experince and skill and knowledge then it might have worth it.
Fee should not be based on law firm but it should be based on Laywer.

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USCLawGrad
Dec 12, 2008 2:49 PM CST

It strikes me that the outlandish hourly rates are often less tied to the quality of the work or ability of the attorney, and more to the level of lavish opulence and hedonistic excess to which the Big Law partners seem to feel entitled.  Associates at firms like White and Case are expected to bill more hours per year than there are actual hours in a year in order to finance the shrines these people build to honor themselves.  (By the way, does anyone believe that every minute billed by the corps of attorneys on any of those mega-projects discussed above was integral and necessary to the projects, or were they just good ways to fill up the billables on the timesheets?)  A $22,000 desk or a reception desk topped with gold-inlaid marble does not make one a better attorney, but it sure increases the overhead.  Some of these offices rival Vegas casinos in their glitz and splendor.  And, like the casinos, someone has to pay for all that flash.  Big Law clients should think more about that when determining whether they actually need to pay $10-20 per minute for their legal services.

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NY is corrupt
Dec 12, 2008 4:39 PM CST

“a billing rate of $1000+ an hour makes sense—and usualy the people paying such rates are not idiots. “

yeah they are - all the GC for these corporations say they use Big Law to cover their ass.  Maybe if the chief counsel, the board looked out after the shareholders and actually vetted firms, they could save 50% on their legal bills and wouldn’t have to lay off so many workers.

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It's a free market.
Dec 14, 2008 5:13 PM CST

This is the free market.  No one is forcing a company to use an expensive attorney.  Michael Jordan earned 20 times the average pro basketball contract.  If you are the Tom Cruise, Oprah, or Warren Buffett of your field then $1,200 an hour seems like a bargain.  With 2,300 attorneys, I am sure White & Case has 3 or 4 attorneys at the top of the field – that is simply an economy of scale.  If clients didn’t think there was some value-added they wouldn’t pay it. 

Still, most interestingly the top trial lawyers are for the most part Plaintiff’s attorneys.  Why charge $1,000 an hour as a great trial lawyer defense attorney when you can make $30,000 an hour like Willie Gary or $300,000 an hour as in the Tobacco settlement plaintiff attorneys.

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John Conlon
Dec 17, 2008 10:26 AM CST

As a former consumner of legal services, I am not upset at the amount of the hourly fee.  What upset me was paying a huge hourly fee rate and then seeing the time and task padding that goes on.  What I observed was that it was more prevalent in the big firms than in the smaller firms.  Perhaps one more reason to use a smaller firm.

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