Stat Of The Week: Big Cos. Win On Billables
Smaller rivals, not so much.
The world’s biggest companies successfully pushed back on Biglaw billing rates in 2020, but law firms still came out ahead by upping the tab for smaller clients, according to a new report.
Thomson Reuters’ 2021 Legal Department Operations Index reveals growing scrutiny of legal bills, with “controlling outside counsel costs” identified as the top priority by corporate law departments.
The companies with the most buying power even moved the needle — those with annual revenue over $10 billion saw rate decreases across the board in 2020. But their smaller competitors were left holding the bag, as overall law firm rates generally rose.
The largest companies “significantly pressured rates in 2020 and realized decreases across all timekeeper types,” the report said. “In fact, this is the first report in which we saw decreases of this magnitude.”
“Perhaps in response, law firms overall were able to generally increase rates and realize significantly greater year-over-year increases from work for companies of smaller sizes.”
Legal Department Operations (LDO) Index 2021 (Sixth Edition): The risk of being left behind [Thomson Reuters]
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