Billing rates are expected to climb again in 2024. But a majority of firms also expect their bill write-downs or write-offs — the kind of fee erosion that’s led to falling realization — to go up, according to a new report this week.

Three-fifths (60%) of law firms stated they believe write-offs will increase over the next year, after roughly the same number (59%) said these bill adjustments already increased in 2023, according to an annual law firm leader survey from BigHand. With 40% of those firms also saying they believe write-offs will increase by more than 10% this year, “the profitability outlook for 2024 is looking less than rosy,” the report stated.