Hourly rates are rebounding strongly from the post-recession doldrums and Big Law is leading the way in capturing more money for their time. Nonetheless, overall demand for lawyers’ time continues to fall, according to an analysis released Monday of actual legal invoices from nearly 100 companies.
In the U.S., hourly rates jumped 5.4 percent between 2014 to 2015, powered by an average 7.5 percent rate increase obtained by those at firms with more than 1,000 lawyers, states a 2016 Real Rate Report issued by consultancy CEB Inc. and Wolters Kluwer NV’s ELM Solutions, which helps in-house legal departments manage their budgets. That was the highest year-over-year increase since 2008.
