According to a post in the Law Society Gazette, which in turn quotes from Jim Diamond’s new book ‘The Legal Extortion Racket‘, partners at Magic Circle firms in 2007 charged clients, on average, between £625-£700 an hour.
If that’s not scary, then it is impressive.
An hour of that partner’s time today would set you back somewhere between £1,000 and £1,500.
We could probably call it and say that’s law’s version of ‘Moore’s Law‘.
But while we all might agree that’s an impressive, if not scary, number – if that’s your want or need you are, after all, getting an hour of a partner’s time. You’d have to imagine said partner would know a thing or two (otherwise how did they get to be a partner in a Magic Circle firm?) and get you the result you want. You may, at a stretch, even be able to argue that said partner works more efficiently than partners in other [non-Magic Circle] firms because they have done the rounds on big ticket matters and know a little about what they are talking about.
All of which could be perfectly true and fair.
So you let it go and turn your attention to another stat in the article quoting Diamond’s book:
Newly qualified lawyers at magic circle firms and US firms in London charge up to £600 an hour
To be clear, what we are talking about here is a ‘newly qualified lawyer‘ who most likely has a rudimentary understanding of the law at best, no idea what ‘utilisation‘ and ‘realisation‘ are, but by now will certainly know very well what a time-sheet is and how important that is to getting his/her/their bonus, charging clients £600 an hour!
That gives me a nose-bled just thinking about it.
For those who follow the hourly rate discussion, Diamond’s table makes for fascinating reading…
Photo credit Dixon Newman on Unsplash
Random Thoughts On The Business Of Law 