2023 Report of the Economic Survey October 2023

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The bi-ennial Report of the Economic Survey is one of the premier and most sought-after publications of the Association. The Economic Survey’s results are often cited in judicial opinions, analyzed by research firms, and used by law firms. Current AIPLA members can access the Report online - for free!  You must log in to access the digital file.  When you open the file in PDF, you can display the bookmarks to more easily navigate to the specific information in the Report.


Order a print copy of the Report of the Economic Survey.

As the profession, and world as a whole, changes over time, we're trying to stay ahead of the curve and capture information that will help our members see how their work experience stacks up with others. Here's what we learned:

We are always looking to make the Report as timely and relevant to practitioners, as such, we have made a number of changes and enhancements. As we continue to emerge from the pandemic, questions related to COVID-19 were removed or revised. One new question asked about the number of miles between respondents’ remote work location and their office location. We added new categories to some questions. More specifically, privacy/cybersecurity was added to the question that reports the percentage of time devoted to various practice areas, and design was added as a category for the technical specialization time spent.

 


Key Findings from the Report:

  • Remote work percentages in 2023 were projected to be similar to 2022, but office attendance increased.
  • Median gross income and billed hours of respondents decreased.
  • Average hourly billing rate for private firm attorneys remained unchanged.
  • Median charges for US patent applications increased by about 10% in 2022 compared to 2020.
  • US trademark application charges increased year over year, but prosecution costs for both patent and trademark applications stayed the same.
  • Over 70% charge a fixed fee for initial trademark applications.
  • Median patent litigation costs varied in 2022 based on the amount at risk - increasing for cases with $1-25 million at risk but decreasing for cases with more than $25 million at risk.
  • Median trademark litigation costs generally increased for cases with over $1 million at risk in 2022.
  • There was an upward trend in salaries from 2020 to 2022 among private practice partners and solo practice practitioners, as well as for first-year associates

As always, the Report's format is consistent with previous reports, and includes:
  • typical charges for law services,
  • typical types of fees for law-service charges,
  • typical costs of litigation, and
  • characteristics of firms.
 
    AIPLA would like to thank Nicholas Camillo and Sarah Knight, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Law Practice Management Committee, Ryan Dean and John Gorecki, the Economic Survey Subcommittee Co-Chairs, and all of the members of the Committee for their hard work in putting this publication together. We are pleased to continue bringing you this valuable member benefit. We hope that you find the Report a useful reference tool in your practice.

    Note: The online edition of the Report is protected from copying, editing, and printing. We know that members may need specific pages for court filings and we hare happy to provide specific pages for such use upon request. If you are in need of specific tables to submit, please contact agordon@aipla.org, and state the purpose for needing the tables, and the specific tables (page numbers) needed.
    Knobbe Martens

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