Adam? Spike? What Other Barristers Do We Have?

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The drinks are on you guys! :)

Lawyers Gear Up Grand New Fees

The hourly rates of the country's top lawyers are increasingly coming with something new -- a comma.

A few attorneys crossed into $1,000-per-hour billing before this year, but recent moves to the four-figure mark in New York, which sets trends for legal markets around the country, are seen as a significant turning point.

On Sept. 1, New York's Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP will raise its top rate to more than $1,000 from $950. Firm partner Barry Ostrager, a litigator, says he will be one of the firm's thousand-dollar billers, along with private-equity specialist Richard Beattie and antitrust lawyer Kevin Arquit.

The top biller at New York's Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP hit $1,000 per hour earlier this year. At Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, also of New York, bankruptcy attorney Brad Scheler, now at $995 per hour, will likely soon charge $1,000.
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1000/60=$17.00/min
17/60=$0.28/second
wow!

I wonder what airplane burns it at that rate?
Even the lowly CJ uses 120gph x $5.00/hr =$600/hr Triple it to cover mx etc = $1800.00/hr.

Hmm, puts it in perspective! Jack up those rates!!
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
1000/60=$17.00/min
17/60=$0.28/second
wow!

I wonder what airplane burns it at that rate?
Even the lowly CJ uses 120gph x $5.00/hr =$600/hr Triple it to cover mx etc = $1800.00/hr.

Hmm, puts it in perspective! Jack up those rates!!
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Interesting. There have been more than a few times in my career where I have been worth a quarter per second to someone. Maybe even a dollar. But they only lasted a few minutes each time, fortunately for me :eek:
 
It just shows the inequity that exists in wages. When the teachers of our children, law enforcement, fire protection, defenders of our freedom, get so much less per DAY than some corporate empty suit get per hour, we have a problem. But it is what the market bears.
 
I think this is pretty ridiculous. Way out of whack with benefits brought to society. What was that about law ceasing to be a profession and is now only a business? (how many years ago...)
 
Ok, I'm not an attorney yet, but I've taken the bar and am looking forward to finding out that I passed come this November. I'm not necessarily "upset" with the comments here, but I would like to know if all the people here who have a problem with an attorney making $1,000/hr. also have a problem with professional sports players making > $20 million per year!!

I see it as the price you pay to have the best. They couldn't charge $1,000/hr. if there weren't people willing to pay it to have the "best." Mind you, I can't fathom me ever being worth $1,000/hr., much less a significant amount below that, but with all the training (and $$) you go through to get the degree, pass the bar, and continued learning (you will fall behind if you don't), I can see several hundred dollars an hour being legitimate. Unfortunately, just like all professions, there are attorneys out there that give the profession a bad name, and just like all professions, they are the ones we always here about :(
 
lawingr said:
Ok, I'm not an attorney yet, but I've taken the bar and am looking forward to finding out that I passed come this November. I'm not necessarily "upset" with the comments here, but I would like to know if all the people here who have a problem with an attorney making $1,000/hr. also have a problem with professional sports players making > $20 million per year!!
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Very much so!
lawingr said:
I see it as the price you pay to have the best. They couldn't charge $1,000/hr. if there weren't people willing to pay it to have the "best." Mind you, I can't fathom me ever being worth $1,000/hr., much less a significant amount below that, but with all the training (and $$) you go through to get the degree, pass the bar, and continued learning (you will fall behind if you don't), I can see several hundred dollars an hour being legitimate. Unfortunately, just like all professions, there are attorneys out there that give the profession a bad name, and just like all professions, they are the ones we always here about :(
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While having someone willing to pay $x/hr for someone's time by definition makes that time "worth it," it does not mean that they bring that much value to the table, either to the purchaser of their talents or to society as a whole. :no:
 
I posted this more as a fun, interesting piece. And, I don't like a couple lawyers in particular (they aren't on this board as I don't know anyone on this board as low as the person I'm thinking of). Otherwise, most are pretty decent people to whom I'll give a fair shake until they enter politics.

Anyone who knows me also knows I'm in favor of anyone operating as desired within a free market economy. Lawyers, baseball players, whomever is within their right and entirely free to demand or negotiate whatever price they so choose. The value of their time and service is determined by the lawyer and the one who needs it most.

I had a lawyer a long time ago tell me... "you get paid for what you know, now what you do." That hit the nail on the head, right there. It's your knowledge, experience and skill of using those which makes your time valuable. They may be so great or even your persona demands such in negotiations, it's a forgone conclusion things will ultimately go your way so you obtain results and probably much faster and efficiently than another lawyer.

That doesn't mean you can't price yourself out of business. There will always be one who wants more and another willing to take less. This is true in any profession. This why I believe athletes will eventually price themselves out of a job. There are only so many people willing to spend 1-4 hours labor to eventually pay for the cost of himself and each person attending a baseball game. Short supply of the consumer is often overlooked. Likewise, only so many will need a grand-an-hour lawyer.

But, if you can get it... knock yourself out! :yes:
 
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I've met a couple of people that I suspected were worth $1,000 per hour, but I'm pretty sure neither of them were attorneys.

I guess if people are willing to pay Dale Earnhardt Jr. $50,000 + for a speaking engagement, $1,000 per hour for someone to get your tail out of a crack isn't so far out of line. http://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakers/Dale-Earnhardt-Jr./2782

Or Barry Bonds... assume he works 10 hours / day, 365 days / year (he doesn't). That's a salary of $4,255 per hour.
http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/playerdetail.aspx?lname=B&player=115

Supply = Demand.
 
A golfer who wins a Senior Open tournament gets like $100,000-$200,000 for a couple of hours on the course.

What we ougtta revel in is if you get $1000 an hour, then how obvious is it that spending the required 4 hours to catch an airliner - that *might* leave on time, or even today - is no way worth the time. Bring on the VLJs!
 
LegalEagle:

Congratulations upon having navigated the turbulent seas, the completion of which journey accorded you a seat at the bar exams. On a technical point, if your above dissertation were to be entered into a legal motion would another legal eagle not get it thrown out because of an incorrectly spelled word?

HR(funning with you, while in admiration of your accomplishments)
 
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lawingr said:
Ok, I'm not an attorney yet, but I've taken the bar and am looking forward to finding out that I passed come this November. I'm not necessarily "upset" with the comments here, but I would like to know if all the people here who have a problem with an attorney making $1,000/hr. also have a problem with professional sports players making > $20 million per year!!
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Sure do, with the latter, not so much with the former. There are three pillars to a free society. Freedom of the press, strong independent military and the law.

For all the complaining about trial lawyers and lawsuits people tend to forget it is our freedom that allows for that to happen. Our independent and free legal system helps ensure that we are a country that is governed by laws. We respect the law, we change the law when it is needed and we ensure that the law is applied fairly and evenly. Now we don't always do a great job each and every time but the big picture is that we are doing a pretty good job of meeting those ideals. I know that sounds like a law school pep rally but it is true.
 
lawingr said:
Ok, I'm not an attorney yet, but I've taken the bar and am looking forward to finding out that I passed come this November....
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The wait is a killer, isn't it? We didn't find out in Maryland until November either - and it stinks because everybody else I knew had already heard by early October at the latest.

As far as $1,000/hr. goes, I work for the state, so I think I make around $30? The average going price, at least up here in the mountains, is around $200-$250, and that's about par for the course in most rural areas. I don't know what the rates are in Denver or other metropolitan areas.

All I can say is that if you find a lawyer you trust and who does a good job, he/she is well worth the money. You may pay a little more for it, but you don't have to worry about inflated hours, shoddy work, etc.
 
Obi Heed Kenobi said:
As far as $1,000/hr. goes, I work for the state, so I think I make around $30?
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A lawyer and a bureaucrat? What's strike three? :D

A client will tend to pay what they need within their resources which best meets their need. Once upon a time, I tried to hire a recent US Attorney. But, I didn't have the requisite retainer. So, I settled for less... and lost.
 
You also have to keep in mind that the lawyers in question do not get PAID $1,000 an hour, like when you calculate athletes' "hourly pay" based on yearly salary divided by some number of "work" hours. These guys BILL that much, but from that comes office overhead etc. Like when you pay the flight school $40 an hour for the CFI, but the instructor gets only $10 an hour.

Some of the big law firms with the big ritzy offices in hot locations pay enormous overhead. And what good is it? I don't begrudge people success, and the signs of a successful person often indicate the quality of their work. But like anything it can go to extremes. In my recent home addition, there was one general contractor I interviewed who did not get the work because he showed up in a brand new hummer wearing a $200 shirt. (His bid came in at twice what the project ended up costing.)
 
This Public Defender sure ain't makin' $1K per hour. Barely make that per week, gross.

Jim G
 
Ken Ibold said:
... In my recent home addition, there was one general contractor I interviewed who did not get the work because he showed up in a brand new hummer wearing a $200 shirt. (His bid came in at twice what the project ended up costing.)
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You and I did pay that guy. The Hummer came with a tax credit that we pay.
 
Several years ago 60 Minutes did a segment on a doctor. Dr. Sun, if I remember right. Did groundbreaking work even after diagnosed as being terminal with cancer. I was watching the show shortly after having another "no one is worth THAT much money" conversations with a friend. And I thought to myself...."Doctors like that are worth every cent this world has to offer to them".
 
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