Wolters Kluwer LegalVIEW Insights finds billing rates tell only part of the legal cost story

Analysis of more than $230 billion in legal invoice data expands beyond rates to examine staffing and billing compliance

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions today released its latest LegalVIEW Insights report, which finds rate growth becoming increasingly fragmented across industry, firm tier, and practice area. However, rates aren't the only factor determining the ultimate size of legal invoices. The report expands its analysis to show how staffing decisions and guideline compliance are impacting the cost of legal services beyond headline rates.

“Rates remain an essential benchmark, but they do not tell legal departments what a matter will ultimately cost,” said Jennifer McIver, Associate Director of Legal Operations and Industry Insights at Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions. “By bringing staffing and billing compliance into LegalVIEW Insights, we are giving legal departments a more complete and practical view of legal spend.”

Rate growth is becoming more fragmented

The report finds that legal billing rates are no longer moving uniformly across the market. Instead, growth appears to be concentrated inside particular industries, firm tiers and practice areas.

Am Law 26–50 firms stand out in 2026, with partner rates up 9.1% since the same point last year and associate rates up 8.8%. At the same time, Am Law 101–200 firms are cooling, with both partner and associate rate growth running below historical trends.

Intellectual property shows an even sharper divergence. IP partner rates are up 13.9% YTD, compared with a 5.0% historical YTD average, while IP associate rates are up just 4.7%.

Healthcare and technology and telecommunications were the only industries running above historical trends for both partners and associates. Healthcare partner rates increased 10.0% year to date, while technology and telecommunications partner rates increased 8.2%.

Staffing changes the cost equation

The report’s new staffing analysis shows that firms with comparable billing rates can produce substantially different costs depending on who performs the work.

Inside Am Law 1-25 firms, for example, associates account for 54.8% of hours worked. But at Am Law 151-200 firms, partners perform 48.2% of the work while associates comprise just 33.7% of hours. These differences suggest that proposed staffing models can heavily influence billing outcomes in conjunction with negotiated rates.

Billing compliance reveals additional opportunities

Billing compliance may also be playing a significant role in shaping the size of legal invoices. Five of the six Am Law segments analyzed recorded year-to-date non-compliance levels above historical benchmarks.

"Vague detail" was the most common billing compliance issue across multiple Am Law segments and corporate legal departments. "Staffing" was also the largest potential financial recovery category across Am Law 51-200 firms. Am Law 51-100 firms, which recorded some of the highest rate increases, also had the highest non-compliance rate among the firm tiers studied at 35.4%.

Together, the findings reinforce the need to look beyond headline rates and evaluate the broader factors influencing legal spend.

Leveraging more than $230 billion in legal spend data, LegalVIEW Insights is an ongoing series of reports, blogs, webinars and other content exploring emerging trends across the legal industry.

About Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer (EURONEXT: WKL) is a global leader in information solutions, software and services for professionals in healthcare; tax and accounting; financial and corporate compliance; legal and regulatory; corporate performance and ESG. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2025 annual revenues of €6.1 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 21,100 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

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