Attorney Compensation Survey

Martindale-Avvo has published its 2019 compensation survey available here.  I am not sure it has any surprises, but there are a few interesting graphs.  Among them, the one that caught my eye was the gender gap (page 6).  The comment that accompanies the graph states:  "A gender-compensation gap exists among solo practitioners and attorneys employed at small firms, with female attorneys reporting receiving 36% less income in 2018 than their male counterparts. Some of this disparity may be attributed to the number of years spent practicing law, with female attorneys reporting substantially fewer average years (16.3) in practice than their male counterparts (22.7). A higher proportion of female attorneys also represent consumers, where reported income in 2018 was less than that of attorneys primarily representing businesses."

Also, with all the talk about alternative billing in recent years, some might be surprised to learn that more than three-quarters of respondents use an hourly rate structure to bill clients.  Flat fees is the second most popular billing method (see page 12).