The broad variety of service offerings in the Victorian employment law market is matched with an equally broad range of pricing levels and models.
Hourly Rates
With 49% of the market setting an hourly rate between $500-$600 per hour there’s a healthy level of “mid-tier’ style pricing options available to clients. That said with only 2% of the market sitting under $500 per hour the options for “cheap” and quality employment law advice in the Melbourne are limited.
Melbourne Employment & WHS Lawyers Pricing (Hourly Rates)
| Hourly Rate | Market Share |
|---|---|
| $350-$400 | 2% |
| $400-$450 | 0% |
| $450-$500 | 0% |
| $500-$550 | 26% |
| $550-$600 | 23% |
| $600-$650 | 9% |
| $650-$700 | 8% |
| $700-$750 | 13% |
| $750-$800 | 4% |
| $800-$850 | 3% |
| $850-$900 | 9% |
| $900-$950 | 2% |
Alternative Pricing
With some 83% of Melbourne’s employment lawyers offering pricing models outside of the hourly rate the city sits slightly behind Sydney (92%) in the use of alternative pricing.
Of those who do offer alternative pricing 100% use fixed price and 76% use capped fees. A comparatively low 7% of the market offer performance based fees. Of most note though was that 62% of the market use retainer-style agreements with clients (compared to an average of 30% across other practice areas).