Associate Attorney Rates Outpacing Partners’

Year-over-year rates for associate attorneys grew at more than double that of partners in 2015, according to a report issued jointly by Wolter Kluwer’s ELM Solutions and CEB. The average associate’s rate increased by 7.3 percent, the report found, as opposed to partners’ year-over-year increases of just 3.6 percent. First-year associates’ rates remained flat. The 2015 average year-over-year rate increases reached 5.4 percent, the highest level since the Great Recession, but has not yet reached the average of more than 8 percent prior to 2008. The study found that law firm size was the single largest driver of rates. New York City lawyers had a 7.9 percent year-over-year increase in 2015, the highest in the country, followed by a 6.8 percent increase for Dallas attorneys, and 6.5 percent increase in Los Angeles.