Law Firms Take the Fifth
from
July/August 2006
by Laura J. Finn
Practically everything’s gone up in the past 20 years, but on this chart of selected percentage changes since 1986, only the price of a good cigar has risen more than the cost of law school. But what about the fees top corporate lawyers are charging so they can afford those cigars? They’re not talking. Corporate Board Member contacted each of our national top 20 firms to ask how their billable hourly rates might have changed over the same two decades, and not one would say. We also tried the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, and various research outfits. No luck. Nobody seems to track billable hours. Has the cost of a good lawyer actually risen at a faster rate than a Cohiba—like CEO compensation, which is off the charts, including this one? That might help explain the lack of candor.
| Cohiba Red Dot Cigar | +400% |
| Harvard Law School | +263% |
| Director Compensation | +238% |
| Inflation | +78% |
| Minimum wage | +54% |
