Summary: For in-house counsel reluctant to pay fees for entry-level associates, a new study that uses actual billing data from 2007 to 2011 may further justify that resistance. Controlling for partner and associate hours per matter, associates with less than two years of experience cost clients $72,185 more than using more seasoned associates for short-term litigation matters that billed 40 hours or more, according to the Real Rate Report, featured in this month's ABA Journal's Law By the Numbers. Given the reports' additional findings that less than 3 percent of total lawyer hours billed to a company, on average, in 2011 were for entry-level associates, down from 7 percent in 2009 (even as junior associate salaries increased), how can firms offer the best value to their clients and still provide the necessary legal experience to their associates? Hear ABA Journal business of law reporter Rachel M. Zahorsky talk with Craig Raeburn, managing director of TyMetrix Legal Analytic, co-producer of the Real Rate Report, and Stuart Dodds, director of global pricing at Baker & McKenzie (a now-growing position in the legal profession that existed at only a handful of firms just five years ago), as they discuss the impact of the study’s findings on law firm-client relationships, best practices for efficient case management, and how firms can ensure the proper investment in entry-level lawyers to serve clients now and in the future.
