Exactly. Basically the client is being told that much less time has been needed to work on their matter. Which is why the clients end up with unrealistic expectations about turnaround time for future deliverables. No wonder the Indian law firms are considered so bad, inefficient and toxic in their work environment and business acumen.
That simply means that the model itself is flawed. It's not as if the A0s are working fewer hours. Why not tell the client the truth that the A0 has worked for 10 hours at 1000 per hour instead of saying that they worked for one hour at 10000 per hour?
Clients don't like to see 80% of hours put by A0s with obscene rates. On an average A0s produce revenue 2.5-3x their annual salary, not as high as 15x as your numbers say
No it is not. This list is at best a discounted rate for an Indian client committing to 200+ hours. It's deeply discounted. Trilegal charges around 250-275 USD/hr for its A-SA cohort.
To all those who think this is too low a rate, I have got a question to ask.
Assuming this is accurate, an associate who bills 7250 (considering the lowest for A0) an hour and works for approximately 260 hours a month (being very conservative here, most A0s are made to work for longer periods, I have just considered around 10 hours a day and 6 days a week) makes the firm 18 lakhs and 85 thousand every month. Out of which the A0 is given at the most 1.5 lakhs per month (again being conservative, many A0s are paid less), which makes for approximately 7.9% of what they bill.
Even considering all firm expenses and overheads and partner profits, if a person is not being given even 10% of what they are earning for the firm, then why on earth would they have dedication, loyalty, motivation to work hard and all those buzzwords that the legal community, especially the older generation, seems to throw around casually for the younger ones to follow? Isn't that one of the bigger issues to focus on? If other firms (and Trilegal too if the counters on this thread are to be believed) are arguably billing at a higher rate and paying the associate even less (Trilegal being the top paying firm at this moment), they can expect even less effort from the associates, since they are only throwing scraps at those people and the latter are fully aware of that.
A0 bills 10x Hours
SA rationalises it to 5x Hours
Partner bills to client for x Hours
Clients don't like to see 80% of hours put by A0s with obscene rates. On an average A0s produce revenue 2.5-3x their annual salary, not as high as 15x as your numbers say
Assuming this is accurate, an associate who bills 7250 (considering the lowest for A0) an hour and works for approximately 260 hours a month (being very conservative here, most A0s are made to work for longer periods, I have just considered around 10 hours a day and 6 days a week) makes the firm 18 lakhs and 85 thousand every month. Out of which the A0 is given at the most 1.5 lakhs per month (again being conservative, many A0s are paid less), which makes for approximately 7.9% of what they bill.
Even considering all firm expenses and overheads and partner profits, if a person is not being given even 10% of what they are earning for the firm, then why on earth would they have dedication, loyalty, motivation to work hard and all those buzzwords that the legal community, especially the older generation, seems to throw around casually for the younger ones to follow? Isn't that one of the bigger issues to focus on? If other firms (and Trilegal too if the counters on this thread are to be believed) are arguably billing at a higher rate and paying the associate even less (Trilegal being the top paying firm at this moment), they can expect even less effort from the associates, since they are only throwing scraps at those people and the latter are fully aware of that.
Even SAM, AZB bills more than this. Trilegal bills far more than SAM, CAM etc. Trilegal's hourly rates are the highest in industry.
The rates posted by you may have been offered to some long-standing Indian client. Indian clients tend to pay much less anyway.
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/275542-indian-law-firm-hourly-billing-rates-2023#comment-275759
Partners- 16,500-20,000
Counsel- 14,000-15,500
SA- 10,500- 14,000
A- 7,250- 10,000
Requesting LI com to drop down recent hourly billing rates for other T1 and T2 firms. Thanks