The average
hourly billing rate for paralegals was more than $ 150, with rates for most positions exceeding $ 175.
Firms are reporting or planning an increase of four per cent in standard hourly
billing rates for 2011.
Watch for other articles with more details and discussions of the results of the
average billing rate survey — including details about billing practices, discounts and more.
At the current hourly
billing rate of $ 34 / hr, for a 40 hour work week, your take home pay is usually around $ 950.
While law firm associates receive terrific supervision and instruction, that training is subsidized by
higher billing rates.
Billing rate increases are always a tool for law firms to increase profits, assuming clients are willing participants in this strategy.
Shouldn't firms simply try to achieve the highest possible
billing rate in a given situation?
Often, the first metric considered is price - related, such as
partner billing rates paid to each firm in the company's panel.
Overall
billing rates rose 4 %, but firm leaders reported that, on average, their firms provided discounts on 21 - 30 % of all hourly rates.
Without any sort of formal introduction I quickly figured out how to
set billing rates, add time entries, and create invoices.
Off -
hour billing rates — clients can contact attorney at X rate from 7 - 7 but after hours is Y rate.
As mentioned in my previous post, client profitability information has a number of strategic uses including being a resource for
determining billing rates.
The client has proposed increasing the current volume of work sent to the firm by 25 % in exchange for
blended billing rate of 225 per hour for all attorneys.
It's important that a firm be open to the smaller types of clients and matters that an associate can generate at the outset, and allow
flexible billing rates for these clients.
The best time tracking software also incorporates billing programs that automatically track time using the law firm's
default billing rates.
Current legal trends reveal that sophisticated in - house counsel increasingly choose small high - quality law firms over bigger firms with excessive overhead and
inflated billing rates.
Track your client's retainer balance at a glance and create separate client matters with their
own billing rates.
A rare few obtain
median billing rates for their markets and practice areas and compare their own rates to these standards.
* The average
billing rate also increases with a lawyer's number of years in practice, with lawyers in or near major metropolitan areas commanding much higher fees than the averages.
This creates a significant challenge when clients no longer will pay
existing billing rates and law firms will have to cut more expenses.
Most attorneys today are trying to find ways to practice profitability in a
tight billing rate environment.
Nearly nine out of 10 law firms are habitually offering discounts on their
headline billing rates according to new research, which casts doubt on the value for money offered by commercial law firms.
For consumers, moving away from the «job shop» business model with hourly
billing rates towards the «value - chain» business model with fixed fees for discrete legal services.
The value of the work you do generally increases as you can experience, but you can not increase your hourly
billing rate enough to make up for that increase in value.
For our clients on the defense side, we have been a leader in alternative billing arrangements and always maintain
fair billing rates and invoices.