Priciest Partners Had an Average Hourly Rate of $873 an Hour Last Year
A new study shows a growing divide between law firm partners who charge the highest and lowest fees.
Partners whose hourly fees put them in the top quarter of lawyers raised their billing rates 4.9 percent last year to an average of $873 an hour, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports.
The rate increase was much smaller for partners whose fees put them in the bottom 25 percent. They raised hourly rates just 1.3 percent and charged an average of $204. “That disparity between who can raise prices—and who can’t—spotlights a growing segmentation in the $100 billion corporate legal market,” the story says.
The study by software company TyMetrix and business research firm Corporate Executive Board Co. looked at billing rates at more than 4,000 law firms.
