Attorney Fees
Big Firm Hourly Billing Rates Up Almost 8%; Average is $348
Posted Dec 11, 2007, 06:00 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
About three-quarters of the nation’s biggest law firms raised their billing rates this year, according to a survey by the National Law Journal.
Law firms charged an average $348 an hour this year, up from $321 in 2006, an increase of 7.7 percent, the legal newspaper reports. The newspaper surveyed the top 250 law firms; 119 provided information on billing rates.
One law firm—Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr—reported partner billing rates as high as $1,000 an hour, although the overall partner range was $475 to $1,000. Greenberg Traurig initially said some of its partners also bill as much as $1,000, but a spokesman later said that was an error.
Previous reports identified other law firms that bill $1,000 an hour for top partners as Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.
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Comments
Posted by Dave - 11 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 15 hours ago
Is there a story here?
What’s the mystery? My property taxes went up 7%, the price of oil gas and energy is up 100%. It seems to reason that every product or service is going to be increased by at least this much.
This is a non-story.
Posted by lawyer - 11 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 14 hours, 4 minutes ago
if you think this isn’t a story, check out how Walmart is handling lawyer rate increases. And then wait for that philosophy to trickle down.
Posted by Don Adair - 11 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 13 hours, 18 minutes ago
The trouble with doing business with the likes of Wal Mart is that you live out that old gag line: When you make love with a 1,000 pound gorilla, you don’t stop when you get tired; you stop when it does.
Posted by law1 - 11 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes ago
great line Adair. My personal view is that clients will pay whatever they can afford for lawyers with established reputations in a particular field. What they are likely to object to is paying similar rates for new associates who don’t provide the value to justify those rates.