Are Female Lawyers Worth $50 an Hour Less Than Men? Average Billing Rates Show Gap
A recent survey has more evidence of a gender gap in the legal profession.
The average hourly billing rate is $259 for women lawyers, while the average is $312 for male lawyers, according to the survey by ALM Legal Intelligence. The Larry Bodine LawMarketing Blog summarized the findings.
For males, the specialties with the highest average hourly billing rates include commercial and contract litigation (at $352), intellectual property nonlitigation ($341) and real estate nonlitigation ($333), the blog reports. For women, top specialty areas were intellectual property nonlitigation (at $316), trusts/estates/probate nonlitigation ($287) and commercial/contract litigation ($286).
Overall, the average hourly billing rate was $295, an increase of 4.6 percent, according to a press release. The data comes from 176 law firms that participated in the National Law Journal Survey of Law Firm Economics.
