Hourly legal fees at the very top of the U.S. market are climbing to new extremes. For 2026, elite litigators at Susman Godfrey are charging as much as $4,000 an hour, setting what appears to be a new benchmark for disclosed partner rates.
The rate applies to senior partners Neal Manne and Bill Carmody, according to Manne. It marks a sharp increase from the $3,000 hourly fees they charged last year, which already placed them among the most expensive lawyers in the United States.
“If there’s someone out there who bills at a higher rate than Bill and me on hourly cases, please let us know so we may raise our rates,” Manne said in an email.
Despite the headline figure, Manne said most of the pair’s work is handled through contingency arrangements or fixed fees, rather than hourly billing. He added that partner rates are set by firm management but declined to explain how the final numbers are determined, joking that the process is “as mysterious as a papal conclave.”
Susman Godfrey, founded in Houston, is known for high-stakes litigation on both the plaintiff and defense sides. The firm competes with much larger corporate law firms and is recognized for paying above-market compensation, particularly to associates.
Rates rise across Big Law
Susman’s move comes amid broader inflation in U.S. legal fees. Hourly billing rates at major firms rose an average of 7% in 2025, according to a 2026 report by the Thomson Reuters Institute and Georgetown Law’s Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession.
While law firms rarely publish their rates, figures sometimes surface in court filings and public contracts. Bankruptcy court records from the ModivCare Chapter 11 case in Houston show that top partners at Latham & Watkins charged up to $3,050 an hour this year, up 15% from $2,650 in 2025. Some associates billed as much as $1,850 an hour.
Other recent disclosures highlight how concentrated the highest fees remain. Reuters previously reported that leading appellate lawyer Neal Katyal billed $3,250 an hour at Milbank. Partners at Quinn Emanuel, including William Burck, Michael Carlinsky and Alex Spiro, each charged about $3,000 an hour, according to court records.
Together, the figures underscore how pricing power at the top end of the U.S. legal market continues to strengthen, even as clients push back against rising costs and demand alternative fee arrangements.
