Lawyer Pay
UK’s Top Magic Circle Law Firms Raised Partner Rates 6% in ‘08
Posted Oct 17, 2008, 02:26 pm CST
By Martha Neil
Despite a gloomy global economic forecast, revenue at London's elite magic circle law firms is being helped by a substantial increase in fees.
Partners are now charging an average of 750 pounds per hour in 2008, up about 6 percent from last year. And, at the upper end of the scale, star partners working on financial bailout matters are charging up to 900 pounds, reports the Lawyer.
That translates to just under $1,300 in U.S. dollars, on average, and a little over $1,500 at the high end, at the current exchange rate.
The figures are from a Legal Budgets survey.
"None of the figures in the survey include discounts, which most firms are willing to negotiate on a client-by-client basis," the Lawyer notes.
As the economy slows, so will billable hourly rate increases, one unidentified attorney predicts. “There was a trend of rates going up over the last few years," he tells the legal publication. "That has slowed down.”