Partner Rates; Billable Targets; Reason to Leave?

ALM released its Attorney Compensation Survey in January, which included the average standard hourly rate charged by both equity and non-equity partners as of 1/1/2024 at firms of varying size (Attorney Compensation Survey, ALM Intelligence, Jan. 2025).  Interestingly, billing rates increased with firm size in a nearly linear fashion, for both equity and non-equity partners.

Billable Targets
Billable hour targets for newly promoted partners appear to have declined since 2021, according to ALM's recently released New Partners Survey, tracking billable targets in 2024 (New Partners Survey, ALM Intelligence, Jan. 2025; 90% of respondents work at firms with 250 or more attorneys, including 53.93% at firms with more than 500 attorneys). 
  
In this most recent survey, 25% of respondents reported 2024 billable hours targets below 1,800 hours, compared to only 13% of respondents in ALM's 2022 New Partners Survey (tracking 2021 billable hour targets).  Relatedly, only 17% reported billable targets above 2,000 hours in 2024, compared to 32% in 2021. 

Reason to Leave?
ALM's New Partners Survey asked "Which of the following would most likely influence your decision to explore partnership at a different firm?"  Not surprisingly, 63% of respondents selected Compensation, which was the most selected by a wide margin. Interestingly, "Desire for a more flexible remote work arrangement" was tied for third from the bottom at 5%. 

I regularly hear complaints from partners about in-office attendance requirements. On reflection, those complaints are typically coming from more seasoned partners, who perhaps feel that they have put in the necessary facetime over the years to establish their position within the firm.  In contrast, newly-minted partners may view their in-office attendance as necessary for promotion.