There's a fascinating brouhaha about whether Congressional staffers can testify about the meaning of legislation (well, fascinating to me), and amongst the filings is a fee statement showing that 2008 graduates are being billed at $460 an hour...
I know I've not been practicing full-time for a while, but $500/hour for a baby lawyer? A few of the partners are over $1000/hour. The brief is here.
I just don't know how this is sustainable; apparently, from the salary cuts we're seeing with first year hiring, it is not!