Law Firm Billing Rates Increase Only Slightly for Third Straight Year

Large law firms increased billing rates by an average of 4.4 percent in 2011, the third year of modest increases.

The National Law Journal surveyed the nation’s 250 largest law firms to determine the average billing rate, a blend of associate and partner rates. The increase was 2.5 percent in 2009 and 2.7 percent in 2010.

Those increases “paled in comparison to the go-go, pre-recession days when firms could charge between 6 and 8 percent more each year,” the story says.