very informative but could use more catagories like practice areas. oh yeah and FIRST

Very (first) unscientific

Billing at 400 here (2006)

Very (first) unscientific

Billing at 400 here (2006)

This just confirms that midlevel associates consider themselves most valuable (which, based on profibitability, they probably are), and that Bostonians are so overwhelmed by their New York-induced inferiority complex that they are convinced that their services are worthless and overpriced by comparison. In short, nothing new.

Resuts?

How do ya'll know your billing rates? I almost never see the bills. (Class of 2003).

FURST

It doesn't matter whether the associates think that they are worth their billing rate; what matters is whether the clients are willing to pay it. $500+/hour for a senior litigation associate who has never been inside a courtroom, let alone second-chaired a trial, is a lot to ask of any client. $300+/hour for a first or second year who knows next to nothing (except how to order dinner) is even worse.

I was hoping we'd see billing rates specific to the various firms. I guess it's interesting to know that my billing rate ($375/hour 2004 SF) is higher than the national average, but I already suspected as much. I want to know what other firms bill their SF associates out for. Lat, can't you put up a firm-specific chart. Or at least a "by geographic location" chart? The national stuff isn't helpful. Atlanta and "other" are undoubtedly bringing the averages down.

Lat you should post Michael Vick's letter to the Judge. good stuff.

I took the survey
But do not work in Boston;
The colors are nice

I was asked by a friend for immigration advice for another friend (not my area, but did a pro bono case once, etc.). The friend gave $300 to a lawyer who just looked at a DHS web site and said can't help you (kept money). It took me 15 minutes to find the rule and the form that would allow the friend to get his family here.

I think my $310/hr is much more reasonable that that solo's $300 (I wanted to report him).

To 2:43 PM,

I am a 2006 in NY who is billed (whored) out at $300. I am worth every penny, and I have the night staff order and pick up my dinner.

Thanks!

If you don't see the bills as a 5th year you should move on to another job. Senior associates being groomed for partner do the bills.

those numbers don't reflect the atlanta market at all

I am a solo with over 100 jury trials under my belt and I am DEFINITELY raising my hourly rates!

3:20 Solo,

why do you post here? you should be ashamed of yourself.

3:20...pro se traffic court cases don't count.

Snarkalicious - You've bought into a myth. Second chairing a trial has no relevance to what a major corporate client needs out of an associate. They most likely don't want their case to ever see the inside of a courtroom. The vast majority of complex cases settle. They need resources, brains, research and writing skills; not the ability to vore dire and cross a witness. I'll concede that a complete lawyer should be comeptent in the courtroom, but only in the sense that he should also have read Blackstone. Its a nice romantic idea, but its not worth a damn to the clients with complex, big money cases.

Of course, that's just litigation. You're even further afield if we're talking about the qualifications of a good transactional lawyer.

Chicago, class of 2007, next year rate will be 325/hr.

WHAT ABOUT POWELL GOLDSTEIN???????

I'm confused about the 1st chart -- are the years backwards, or have hourly fees been the only public-sector costs to DROP drastically over the past 7 years?

Anderson,

you are dumb, and you are a douche.

Dear 3:36:

There is no way to take an effective deposition (really) without some sense about how the Q & A might be effectively used at trial.
;;

The legal world of overflowing with 'litigators' but few trial lawyers.

;;

In the 'litigator' world, a 'zinger' at a deposition or even 'besting' the lawyer defending it is the 'ultimate', but a trial lawyer knows that a 'zinger' is wasted if not in front of the jury.

PS: It takes more ‘balls’ to stand up and face a jury than any other contemporary life challenge, i.e. the associate who you (try to deflate) and who has been there and done that is better than you.

;;

PPS: I once bragged to a judge/friend (a former Rutan & Tucker partner) that I had tried 11 jury trials as sole counsel for my client. His response: Talk to me after you have tried a hundred.

3:46 is right. But we could at least give a hint... Those are all current rates.

3:49

your paragraphing style is even more obnoxious than that guy who comments on the WSJ law blog.

ATL comments recognize full breaks.

see?

you suck!

PS: you're a giant twatwaffle

PPS: your judge/friend (the former Rutan & Tucker partner, huh?) is a gianter twatwaffle.

There is also no way to take an effective deposition if you can't analyze the obscure law and complex contracts that apply to a case.

My cases would never see a trial, and certainly not a jury trial. That'd be like trusting 12 random people to do my hear surgery.

Face it. What we do is different. I'm not knocking trial skills, just the myth that they matter in many fields of the law.

"heart surgery"

I spent most of my 11 years at two large law firms, and am now working in a small boutique firm. It's clear that large firm billing rates are completely out of control.

Would YOU pay $300+ per hour for a just-out-of-law school associate for ANYTHING? I sure as hell wouldn't.

It's no wonder that in-house counsel are hiring fewer firms these days. But it does benefit those of us at small firms...getting lots of business from corporations that are sick of paying these rates.

Thanks!

4:12

boutiques are for douches.

grow a pair.

4:12

also, you don't have to type "anonymous" in the name field in order to be so named.

4:17

what a great comeback! wow - now i really understand that my life has no meaning....

yes, large firm associates are the happiest people in the world. now i remember.

3:49's gratuitous use of quotation marks is at least as annoying as his paragraph style.

This graph would look a lot more professional if it didn't look like a box of rainbow crayons.

What is "Rutan and Tucker"??

Chicago 2006 here, $375/hr is my top-grade rate as of 1/1/08

Rutan & Tucker, LLP, founded in 1906, is California’s largest law firm based in Orange County.

The firm has provided a president and two members of the board of governors of the California State Bar and six presidents of the Orange County Bar Association.

It is politically connected in California locally and on the state level.

I AM the guy who comments on the WSJ Blog.....

Rutan & Tucker can also be used to make great waffles.

the real question is...why do SAT tutors make more than lawyers?
;;

Wait. Is it the "largest California law firm" or "the largest California law firm based in Orange County"? If the later, than is there a non-California firm based in Orange County that is larger? Argh . . . apparently arguing a jury trial doesn't teach you to write a clear sentence.

Don't you fools realize that the more sentiments like this are published the less likely it is that we are going to get paid a lot of money to do what we do? Clients reading this idiocy probably aren't going to be tickled when they get their bill...

I am NY, class of 2006, billing at 395/hr. Corporate people all billed out higher than that over 500/hr.

They bill us out at 2nd year rate from September, even though we're not 2nd years (with 2nd year salary) until January 1, 2008.

I'm disappointed this study doesn't take into race account. We could have had another good discussion on AA.

race, into. Lat, why did your blog change what typed I?

3:36:

I am the US GC of a prominent European tech firm. I have supervised numerous complex litigation matters, including some that have been headlines in the NYT and WSJ. I have used outside counsel, both Biglaw and boutiques. Not every matter can or should be settled. Biglaw's fee structure and arrogance are the primary problems with the legal profession. I negotiate rate reductions upfront, and will never pay $300+ for a junior associate or $500+ for a senior associate who has not set foot inside a courtroom.

I started my career in Big law, and know whereof I write. When you are looking at the bills in a bet-the-company litigation, you will also want experience, skills and intelligence -- not just good grades and conformity -- for your company's money.

3:03:

Unless you're making me come, then I doubt it.

Most of you guys at BIGLAW are douchebags. You're the same douchebags you were in high school, but now you actually make money for it. Thank god you guys are in offices rather than in courtrooms, where lawyers work. You guys are just glorified clerks, albeit with Jags and MBs, but clerks nonetheless. BIGLAW is a zoo for trained and wellpaid monkeys. Of course, you're all over-paid, but that shouldn't bother anyone. Kudos on at least that much. Revel in the delusion that you are actually lawyers.