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NALFA Releases 2023 Litigation Hourly Rate Survey & Report

December 27, 2023 | Posted in : Fee / Rate Economics, Fee Award, Fee Award Factors, Fee Data / Fee Analytics, Fee Request, Fee Scholarship, Fees by Tiers / Scale, Hourly Rate Survey, Hourly Rates, Lodestar, Lodestar Crosscheck, NALFA News, Study / Report

Every year, NALFA conducts a survey of prevailing market rates in civil litigation in the U.S.  Today, NALFA has released the results from its 2023 hourly rate survey.  The survey results, published in the 2023 Litigation Hourly Rate Survey & Report, shows billing rate data on the factors that correlate to hourly rates in litigation:

City / Geography
Years of Litigation Experience / Seniority
Position / Title
Practice Area / Complexity of Case
Law Firm / Law Office Size

This empirical survey and report provides micro and macro data of current hourly rate ranges for both defense and plaintiffs' litigators, at various experience levels, from large law firms to solo shops, in regular and complex litigation, and in the nation's largest markets.  This data-intensive survey contains hundreds of data sets and thousands of data points covering all relevant billing rate categories and variables.  This is the nation's largest and most comprehensive survey or study of hourly billing rates in litigation.

This is the fourth year in a row NALFA has conducted this hourly rate survey.  The 2023 Litigation Hourly Rate Survey & Report contains additional categories and more accurate variables.  These updated features allow NALFA to capture new and more precise billing rate data.

Through its propriety email database and digital infrastructure, NALFA surveyed over 495,000 attorneys from thousands of law firms and law offices from across the U.S.  Over 24,800 qualified litigators participated in this hourly rate survey over a 10-month period.  This data-rich survey was designed to aid litigators in proving prevailing market rates in court and comparing their billing rates to their litigation peers.