According to the study, law firms with 500 lawyers or more were the recipients of 72 per cent of fees billed for M&A transactions in 2014 and 2015. At the same time, the fees paid to outside counsel for M&A work have shot up dramatically. Across the board, the report shows that hourly rates for M&A work were at least twice as high in 2014 and 2015 than in the 2012 edition of LexisNexis’ study. With an average partner hourly rate of $629, M&A work attracted higher fees than any other practice group included in the study.

Top dogs cash in

In particular, the willingness of clients to pay top dollar for experience and expertise appears to be growing. While the median partner’s hourly rate for M&A work grew around 2 per cent from $623 in 2012 to $638 in 2015, rates for partners already in the 90^th percentile of billing rates have grown considerably faster, up 9 per cent from $908 per hour in 2012 to $1,032 per hour in 2015. According to the report, 99 per cent of all M&A matters were billed by the hour while around 25 per cent have been handled exclusively by partners each year since 2011.