Billing rate & associate salary survey plus
(BRASS plus)

Developed in 2000, the BRASSplus provide participants with hard-to-find benchmarking data on timekeeper billing rates by location, practice group and a combination of both.

PwC has separate releases of the BRASSplus for UK and US-based law firms. The BRASSplus for US-based firms is released on a biannual basis; the initial release and the mid-year release.

Results from the BRASSplus initial release were distributed in June 2009. Participation is now underway for the BRASSplus mid-year release.

Register to participate in the BRASS(plus) survey How to participate in the BRASS plus.

BRASS plus brochure.

Data disclaimer & confidentiality.

Timing: Data submissions for participation in the mid-year release are due on September 25th, 2009. Results will be distributed on or before October 12, 2009.

Fees For law firms participating in the initial release of the 2009 BRASSplus, the base participation fee is $500 for three comparison groups. All other BRASSplus participants will receive a base participation fee of $1,500. Additional comparison groups will be billed at $325 each. Discounts are provided for firm’s that order more than 10 additional comparison groups.


Why you should participate
  • Access to billing rate information from some of the nation’s most profitable law firms: Last year nearly 80% of the largest, most profitable law firms participated
  • Three distinct billing rate benchmarks: The BRASSplus collects information on three distinct billing rates — standard (published) rate, agreed-upon (worked) rate and the billed (effective) rate. This feature allows participants to benchmark the billing rates that many firms realize due to client pressures.
  • Availability of benchmarking key revenue metrics by office and/or practice group: Many law firms acknowledge the importance of managing revenue by practice group, in addition to geographic location.
  • Ability to 'customize' comparison groups to fit your firm’s needs: Participants can choose to benchmark their individual offices and practice groups to over 1,000 standard geographic comparison groups and 200 standard practice area comparison groups.
  • A win-win time investment to cost proposition: The time necessary for participation is minimized with our data extraction tool, which for many participants, is as easy as a download of information from their financial systems.