Law firms in Pennsylvania's biggest cities just about match the rest of the industry when it comes to billing rate increases, according to a recent report. And those rates are climbing faster than they have since the recession, despite weak demand for legal services.

The Real Rate Report, released jointly by Wolters Kluwer's ELM Solutions and CEB, showed that rates have increased by 5.4 percent industrywide, on average, from 2014 to 2015. The report is based on data from legal fees paid by 97 companies to more than 5,900 law firms.

In 2015, the report found, Philadelphia experienced an average rate increase of 4.5 percent among 156 firms included in the data, which billed a total of more than 300,500 hours.