Law Firms

This BigLaw firm charges more for copying than competitors, bankruptcy filings show

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Kirkland & Ellis charges clients more for in-house copying services that do other BigLaw firms, according to a review of bankruptcy filings by Law.com.

Kirkland charges 16 cents per page, compared to 15 cents per page at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Baker Botts; Vinson & Elkins; and Mayer Brown, according to Law.com.

The charge is only 10 cents per page at Latham & Watkins; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the article reports.

A 2021 survey of 37 law firms by legal operations consultancy Mattern Associates found that the industry average is 14 cents per page. The differences partly stem from different definitions of printing costs, legal operations consultant Rob Mattern told Law.com.

Law firms might take into account the cost of equipment, copying supplies, labor and even the cost of office space for copying operations, Mattern said.

Law firms may also take into account competitors’ rates and the fact that copying costs get billed but then may be written off by the law firms or clients, according to Mattern.

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