Gone are the days when partners take clients out to lunch and give the news that their billing rates are going up, even more so than before. Now, it's increasingly common that lawyers rely on firmwide engagement letters or online e-billing platforms to alert clients of rate increases, even though less personalized communication can frustrate clients, say pricing experts and corporate counsel consultants. 

One firm chair said he estimates that more than 50% of their firm's partners don't notify their clients now of rate increases, and instead rely on renewing engagement letters to do so. He noted that firms started alerting clients of regular, more automatic, across-the-board rate increases in their engagement letters about 10 years ago, causing many partners to move away from the awkward client conversations.