New Report Finds Nearly 75 Percent of Lawyers Increased Their Fees During the Downturn

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporate Executive Board (CEB) (NYSE: EXBD), a leading research and advisory services company, today announced the release of the Real Rate Report™, an analysis of over $4.1 billion in legal billing fees.  The report is produced jointly by CEB's Legal and Compliance Practice and CT TyMetrix and helps general counsel make better-informed business decisions by providing an objective look at invoice data to understand and quantify what is driving the billable hour.

"The Real Rate Report™ responds to companies' need for actual legal cost information to assist in planning, budgeting, and negotiating with their outside law firms," said Steven Williams, managing director, Corporate Executive Board.  "The report is a great addition to the broader set of services we provide to CEB's more than 1,000 member legal departments to help them reduce legal costs and drive corporate performance."

Key findings of the Real Rate Report™ include:

The five most important factors driving law firm rates

• Lawyer location, law firm size, experience level, partner status, and key practice area are the top factors impacting hourly rates today.
• Hourly rates are influenced significantly more by a lawyer's geographic locale and law firm size than by that lawyer's experience or practice area.  

Geographic rate disparities

• Large, tier one markets have seen smaller percentage rate increases than some other markets—specifically in Southern cities.  
• Smaller metropolitan areas, such as Denver, St. Louis, and Raleigh, remain relatively inexpensive compared to large markets such as like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

Partner vs. associate rate increases

• Between 2007 and 2009, associates had the largest percentage increase in hourly rates – 16.6 percent -- compared to 8.6 percent by partners.
• Associates with fewer than three years of experience had the highest percentage increase -- 17.9 percent.

"The Real Rate Report™ is a ground-breaking resource for all law firms and corporate law departments looking for pricing data to build aligned, mutually beneficial partnering models," said John Weber, general manager, CT TyMetrix.  "We are proud of this report, as well as the other CT TyMetrix's innovations that enable law firms and law departments to optimize their legal operations."

About the Real Rate Report™

The Real Rate Report™ includes analysis of $4.1 billion in invoices from more than 3,500 law firms, more than 90,000 individual billers and 17.6 million invoice items from 2007 to 2009.  Other reports on legal billing trends generally are based on survey information, which is typically skewed by the inaccuracy of respondent estimates and the self-selecting nature of survey respondents.  The Real Rate Report™ is not a survey, but rather an analysis of a large dataset of e-billing information.  All findings are based on actual invoice data provided by CT TyMetrix and analyzed by the Corporate Executive Board.  The Real Rate Report™ is available free of charge to members of CEB's General Counsel Roundtable or Corporate Legal Exchange.  In addition it can be purchased at www.realratereport.com. For more information please visit www.executiveboard.com/real-rate-report.

About The Corporate Executive Board

The Corporate Executive Board Company drives faster, more effective decision making among the world's leading executives and business professionals. As the premier, network-based knowledge resource, The Corporate Executive Board provides customers with the authoritative and timely guidance needed to excel in their roles, take decisive action and improve company performance. Powered by an executive network that spans over 50 countries and represents approximately 85% of the world's Fortune 500 companies, The Corporate Executive Board offers unique research insights along with an integrated suite of exclusive tools and resources that enable the world's most successful organizations to deliver superior business outcomes. For more information, visit www.exbd.com.

SOURCE Corporate Executive Board