With outsized billing rates making even mainstream news reports—a Kirkland & Ellis partner's $1,745 hourly rate in the Toys R Us bankruptcy recently caught the attention of The New York Times—there's no question clients are watching the numbers closely.

But are they balking? It depends on whom you ask.

The vast range of pricing markets in the legal business means some Big Law partners have long operated on a different playing field from their counterparts elsewhere when it comes to billing rates.