Updates headline, adds new details in paragraphs 2 and 3

By David Thomas and Mike Scarcella

Feb 27 (Reuters) - (Billable Hours is Reuters' weekly report on lawyers and money. Please send tips or suggestions to D.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com)

Some top partners at U.S. law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan are now charging a standard fee of $3,000 an hour, Reuters reported this week, signaling a new high for the industry.

Lawyers at at least one other firm have hit the same milestone: Litigator Neal Manne said on Thursday that he and his partner Bill Carmody at Susman Godfrey also adopted $3,000 hourly rates this year, though he said they often agree on case-specific fees instead of charging by the hour.

Manne's clients include Chevron and Live Nation, and Carmody has represented ride-sharing giant Uber.

With law firm billing rates swiftly rising at big firms around the country and nearly doubling in the past decade, lawyers at other large firms are not far behind.

A review of court filings in bankruptcies and other cases shows that several firms are now charging top hourly rates above $2,500.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati said last year that some of its partners would begin billing client Rite Aid up to $2,720 an hour for bankruptcy work.

Some partners at Kirkland & Ellis, ranked the highest-grossing U.S. law firm by The American Lawyer, said in December they would bill at $2,675 an hour this year, up from $2,445 in 2024.

Second-ranked Latham & Watkins said in December that its partners were charging up to $2,745 an hour in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of online used car seller Vroom.

Sidley Austin said in a January 29 application to represent Prospect Medical Group in the hospital group's bankruptcy that its partners would charge $2,610 an hour this year.

Law firms do not typically publicize their rates, but they are sometimes required to disclose them in bankruptcies and class actions or may reveal them in public contracts with governmental clients.

Reuters reached out to more than 35 of the largest U.S. firms to ask about their rates, and whether any of their lawyers charge $3,000 or more. The firms either declined to comment or did not immediately respond to a request for one.

At Quinn Emanuel, the $3,000 dollar rate applies to a handful of partners such as Alex Spiro, whose clients have included billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk and rapper Jay-Z. Even associates at the firm now bill as much as $1,665 an hour, according to court filings.

U.S. law firms often raise their billing rates each year, and average hourly partner rates reached $1,114 last year, according to a survey of large firms by legal recruiter and consultancy Major, Lindsey & Africa. That's up 36% from the company's last survey in 2022, and up 83% from 2014.

A survey of more than 130 U.S. law firms by Wells Fargo's legal business division found that billing rates rose by 9.1% on average in 2024, with the 50 highest-grossing U.S. law firms raising them by 10% on average.

As billing rates rise, so do law firm revenue, profits and lawyer pay. The same survey by Wells Fargo's Legal Specialty Group found that law firm revenue rose by 12.5% on average last year. Equity partner profits increased by 16.9% on average, Wells Fargo found.

Major Lindsey in its 2024 report said rate increases were a key factor in "the highest-ever average total compensation figure and the highest percentage increase in the survey's history."

-- Tesla TSLA.O said in a court filing on Tuesday that it has paid $176.1 million in attorney fees awarded to plaintiffs' lawyers who negotiated a $919 million settlement with the electric carmaker over allegations that Tesla's board members overpaid themselves, despite earlier disputing the fee. Tesla's chief accounting officer Vaibhav Taneja said the company paid the fee on February 11.

Tesla is still appealing Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick's January decision awarding the fees, court records show. The fee award was the fourth-largest in the history of shareholder litigation in Delaware.

A Tesla spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the plaintiffs' lawyers at Fields Kupka & Shukurov, McCarter & English and Bleichmar Fonti & Auld.

The carmaker has argued the fee should be capped at $64 million, while the plaintiffs' lawyers sought $230 million.

-- Financial disclosures by officials tapped to join the Trump administration show that Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's David Fotouhi, Trump's pick to serve as the second-in-charge at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, reported earning at least $3.2 million in fees representing clients including Chevron, Ford and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Trump's choice for deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, is collecting $378,341 a year in annual retirement benefits from his former law firm Kirkland & Ellis, according to his financial disclosure.

Landau resigned from Kirkland in 2018, after more than 25 years at the firm. He then was employed at Quinn Emanuel and more recently at law firm Ellis George.

In another new financial disclosure, Trump's pick to lead the Justice Department's civil rights division, Harmeet Dhillon, listed her legal services to clients, including Musk's X Corp, conservative media star Tucker Carlson and the Republican National Committee.

Dhillon said she would sell her stake in her firm Dhillon Law Group to her brother, a partner at the small firm.

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