NWCDN Members regularly post articles and summary judgements in workers’ compensations law in your state.
Select a state from the dropdown menu below to scroll through the state specific archives for updates and opinions on various workers’ compensation laws in your state.
Contact information for NWCDN members is also located on the state specific links in the event you have additional questions or your company is seeking a workers’ compensation lawyer in your state.
The average hourly
rate for lawyers in Texas varies by practice type from $130 per hour for
juvenile law to $415 per hour for mediation/arbitration, according to a report
from Clio, a legal billing software company: https://www.clio.com/resources/legal-trends/compare-lawyer-rates/tx/
Comparing the hourly rates for workers’ compensation with other practice types,
workers’ compensation attorney fees are the least expensive of any practice
area other than juvenile law which usually involves court appointments for
juvenile criminal court proceedings.
From 1991 to 2015, workers’ compensation attorney fees were capped at $150 per
hour. In 2015, the Division raised the cap to $200 per hour where it
remains today. However, many claimant and carrier attorneys charge less than the
cap putting the average rate at around $175 per hour.
Comparing this rate to the rate for other practice areas makes workers’
compensation look like a real bargain. Examples of the hourly rate for
other practice types include administrative law at $317, bankruptcy law at
$360, civil litigation $297, employment/labor law at $314, family law at $279,
and real estate at $293. The hourly rate for workers’ compensation is
even on par with the hourly rate charged by some plumbers and auto mechanics, as
demand for those services has increased.
The hourly rate for workers’ compensation law looks even better when
considering the level of expertise of the workers’ compensation bar as a whole.
Many of its practitioners are board-certified in workers’ compensation and have
been in practice for twenty or more years. Also good news is that the average
legal costs per claim have decreased since the elimination of in-person benefit
review conferences. Attorneys no longer have to travel to attend BRCs now that
they are all conducted by telephone or videoconference. This pandemic-induced
change was made permanent effective December 9, 2021.
However, one downside of the low rates for workers’ compensation is that they
seem to be attracting fewer new attorneys to the practice of workers’
compensation law. The workers’ compensation bar is graying and as
experienced workers’ compensation attorneys retire, they’re not necessarily
being replaced. There will also continue to be economic pressure on
workers’ compensation attorneys to raise their rates (subject to the cap) due
to the significant inflation our country is currently experiencing.
Copyright 2022, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP