The Texas Lawyer ‘s annual Salary and Billing Survey tracks financial trends in the state’s legal industry.  The survey results include: 

* Average Hours Billed Per Week

* Hourly Billing Rates

* Timekeepers'''''''' Salaries

* Legal Secretaries'''''''' Salaries

* Support Staff Salaries

* Administrative Services Salaries

Methodology:

Each year, Texas Lawyer tracks financial trends in the state’s legal industry through its Salary & Billing Survey. The resulting report compiles information provided by firms of different sizes and practice areas across the state. The firms respond to questions about employees’ salaries, billing rates and billable hours.

Due to variations in firms’ data-tracking, these results are not definitive, but they do provide valuable comparative information for firm managers and employees. Not all respondents answered each question. A minimum of three responses was required for every category of averaged data. The numbers in the percent-change columns are rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent.

The 101 firms that participated in this year’s survey employ 8,797 lawyers with 4,223 of those lawyers in Texas. The average survey results are reported by city and by firm size. The firms with lawyers outside Texas provided salaries and billing rates for their Texas offices.

Firms are divided into four regional categories: Austin/San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and Other. For the 101 responding firms, the primary Texas locations are as follows: 12 are in Austin/San Antonio, 37 are in Dallas/Fort Worth, 28 are in Houston and 24 are in other cities. The size divisions are firms with 100-plus, 50 to 99, 30 to 49 and fewer than 30 lawyers. Of the 101 responding firms, 13 have more than 100 lawyers, 12 have 50-99 lawyers, 14 have 30-49 lawyers and 62 have fewer than 30 lawyers.