As we start out on 2025, the 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 (AFR) has helpfully published a table today (14.01.2025) – ‘𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐰 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐬’ – that makes for very interesting reading.

Other than the expected billable hour targets for first year lawyers and comments on alleged “under-billing” practices at major Australian law firms, what caught my attention in the article was this comment:

“𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮 – 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦 – 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥. 𝘓𝘢𝘸𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘴.”

I might be wrong, but in the event that Hamilton Locke charges clients by the billable hour, then I highly suspect this also translates into a yearly hourly target…

…In the event that HL charges clients fixed fees or some other type of fee arrangement, then I accept this calculation probably sets it apart.

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