Billable hour rates rise, but who's paying full price?
Billable hour rates have gone up by 10 percent in the past four years, but those prices may often be offset by things like fee caps, discounts and alternative fee plans, the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports.
According to the publication’s billing data from the 40 firms that reported their 2014 numbers, partners’ hourly rates average $500 an hour. The firms with the highest partner billing rates were Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Dickstein Shapiro; Kaye Scholer; and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr.
The average hourly billing rate for associates at responding firms was $306 an hour, according to the article. It notes that many clients now refuse to pay for first-year lawyers’ work, and some firms have first-year lawyers spending their time training, working on pro bono matters or doing paralegal tasks.
Besides self-reported billable hour rates, the National Law Journal’s data includes rates collected from public records, most of which were bankruptcy filings. In that practice area, partners averaged $452 an hour for 2014. Comparatively, the average partner rate for bankruptcy lawyers in 2012 was $480 an hour.
