Judge Rakoff Sounds Off on Law Firm Billing

The invisible hand of the free market hasn’t been able to exert much control over law firm billing rates, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said April 3 at a Cardozo School of Law panel discussion about the high cost of the legal system.

The judge cited data from a 2016 Cardozo Law Review article, “The Cost of Rules, the Rule of Costs,” which reported average hourly rates for partners shot up from $122 in 1985 to $532 in 2012 (average associates rates grew from $79 to $370 in the same time period). The article suggests the rates for big ...