Law firms are passing on the cost of salary increases to clients despite last year’s assurances that they would foot the bill, in-house lawyers have claimed in the wake of a record 18% profits increase at the top 50 law firms.
A straw poll of top industry lawyers following the publication of Legal Week’s top 50 law firm performance table has found a widespread belief that law firms have passed on rocketing assistant pay by increasing charge-out rates by more than twice the rate of inflation this year, for the second year running.
