Billing rates at leading US law firms shot up in 2007, with approximately three-quarters of respondent firms to the latest annual National Law Journal survey on charge-out rates boosting the amounts they charged for partner and associate services.

At the same time, average firmwide billing rates, which included partner and associate rates, climbed by 7.7%, while firmwide median rates rose by 7.1% compared to reported billing data in 2006.

Despite grousing by clients about ever-higher lawyers' fees, 75.2% of the firms providing billing information both this year and last charged more in 2007 than in 2006. The figure represents law firms that increased the high end of the billing range charged by their partners and associates.