Research Lawyer Remuneration

Hi all. Well for a first post I pick a doozy. What is our work worth? I am writing for both a selfish and an unselfish reason. First, I am trying to gain a salary range for research lawyers as a distinct group, which I have not come across in the generalist publications that compare, for example, litigation associates’ salaries. I do have an article giving the going rate for free-lance legal researchers though ($125 – $150 an hour). Second, I think this is a self-worth exercise, as I suspect there is out there a ‘research lawyer discount’, that is, a reduced salary because one undertakes largely behind-the-scenes tasks.

I know that some larger firms just treat research lawyers as regular associates. If that is the case I can then work from the associates’ pay scales. However, I have experienced the ‘discount theory’ and I expect it exists in mid-sized firms. Can I please have the group’s experience with this? If anyone has numbers I would take them via e-mail off the list. I would not be attributing particular salaries to particular firms and I would not use the results for any other purpose – though I would share anonymized results with this group.

I am also interested in side issues such as billable hours (I remember grumping about how I could just sit s read for 8 hours a day and try to bill for it, while litigation lawyers had a hundred simultaneous tasks that kept them from easily building up billable hours) were an issue and often research lawyer’s time on a file was cut down. I think this arose in part from a lack of understanding what length of time thorough research would take and also a lack of experience on the part of newer research lawyers to know when to stop. It also may reflect a desire to bill out the time at the usual litigation associate rate without factoring in the extra time for in-depth research (that is, should research lawyers’ billable rates be discounted as well?). Public comments on this sort of issue would also help. Thanks.