Can we talk about hourly rates? I know it’s highly location/practice area specific, but I’m just trying to get a general idea. What’s the base hourly rate for a 1st year that hung a shingle right out of law school? Philly/south jersey location. Thanks!

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This heavily depends on the type of work you do. Are you drafting a will or drafting a complaint?
With your experience, hourly is going to scare off some clients and will take a lot of your time to bill from an administrative standpoint. You should research fixed fee billing by task or by project or if you have a recurring client, arrange for a set monthly fixed fee which will guarantee some monthly revenue then charge extra, fixed or hourly, for additional services or research.

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Attorney1 - Thanks for both answering the question directly and providing suggestions for fixed fees. I’ll definitely look into that.

Definitely field-dependent and client dependent. For my practice - and I’m 10 years out - my fees range from 250/hr (volume/ID-type stuff) to 350/hr (more unique/one off retentions). I’m in a major metro market

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In Phili, we usually charge 200/hour, 150 if theyre really in experience, up to 300

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For litigation, it’s helpful to look at court decisions granting attorneys fees (or motions seeking them) and see what rates were charged by the attorneys at various practice levels. You might also google Clio data because they put out average rates per state and practice area, and then presumably you’d go down from there as you are new.

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Thank you!

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Im at a 7 attorney litigation and real estate firm in NJ shore area that grew from a solo started in 2020 - we went from $300 hour in 2020-2021 to $350 hour in mid-2021. All attorneys have four or more years experience. Wouldn’t be surprised if we jump another $25 to $50/hour within the next year or two.

Still, as someone straight out of law school, you’ll have to be mindful that your hourly rate should reflect your experience. If you’re asking as much as a partner with 15 years, you might struggle creating value for your clients.

You also should be aware that you might, in the pursuit of creating value, end up writing off more hours to get familiar with areas of law/court procedures than the partner with 15 years of experience.

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Thanks, this was extremely helpful. I figured I’d be writing off a lot of time spent getting familiar with the basics. And I definitely don’t want to charge as much as someone with 15 years experience, but I still need to earn a living 😅

Definitely depends on practice area, but anywhere from $150-$350. Im three years out and doing $300-$350 in a Philly suburb doing Corporate Work/RE work. Family/criminal/T&E/immigration would likely be on the lowerside, with litigation somewhere in between, and business/corporate work on the higher end. Fixed fees might be a better option with some clients, or monthly recurring, for smaller clients or in the beginning of your career.

I know an immigration attorney who charges $100-$300 a month for people until the case is completed, which can take years. He will stop working on the case if people stop paying (which is in the engagement letter). Ends up making thousands by the end of the engagement and his clients love him and refer a lot of people because it is affordable.

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Majority of your clients won’t know/care how many years of experience you have, as long as you can demonstrate to them that you know what you’re doing. So id say you should charge whatever average rate for a given task is.

In an expensive market the owner of a small 3 attorney firm bills at $600 hrly. Clients can either pay it, or they go to a different firm.

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