The sheer volume of commercial litigation lawyers and lawyer firms in Queensland combined with a particularly broad range of service offerings/firm types delivers and extremely competitive and keenly priced market.
Hourly Rates
Although Queensland still has its fair share of litigators charging at the higher end of the market the percentage of individuals charging under $600 per hour (55%) is almost triple that of Western Australia (19%) and nearly twice that of Victoria (33%). While the $500-$600 per hour mark was the most popular with 35% of the market falling within that band 17% of the market priced themselves under $500 per hour.
At the upper end of the market 25% of individuals fell between $600-$700 per hour and 20% sat between $700-$800 per hour.
Alternative Billing
Reflective of the competitive nature of the market Queensland led the way nationally when it comes to litigators using alternative pricing with some 90% of individuals reporting its use in the past 12 months. Although widely used there was minimal innovation with fixed pricing used by 96% of individuals and Queensland falling at the lower end of the scale when it came to the use of performance based fees. retainers etc.