Attorney fees have increased by more than 2.5 times since the 1980s, according to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Labor. And though in-house counsel is still the most expensive firm for employees, law firms are beginning to look more like Fortune 500 companies every year. To pay for their skyrocketing overhead, law firm CEOs are charging their attorneys more and more each year.
Law is a notoriously lucrative field, but what is the reason behind all the money? A large part of the reason is that lawyers often charge high fees. There are many reasons why lawyers charge so much, but most of them have to do with the expensive and time-consuming litigation process.
Lawyers charge high prices because they have to. In a salary-driven market like the legal profession, it’s difficult to stay competitive if you stay the same. The reason the price of legal services has increased seems to be because of a combination of factors, including the shortage of lawyers and law school graduates, increasing demand, the fact that legal and non-legal services are being integrated more and more, and the rise of more specialized strategies.
Lawyers charge so much nowadays because they have to deal with a lot of cases and therefore they have more chances to make mistakes. Money, as many who have experienced it, can attest, is not a motivator or a gift from the almighty but rather a hard-earned commodity that is used to buy stuff. As such, when it comes to a fresh credit card bill, most people can be forgiven for not being overly fussy about the sum. But it’s surely worth wondering why the costs of legal services have risen to the point where it is now a very different proposition to hire a lawyer than it was just a few years ago.