*

Alex Spiro's $3,000 hourly rate among highest in Manhattan

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Spiro one of two lawyers at Quinn Emanuel's charging

$3,000,

source says

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Law firm revenue grows with rising billing rates, Wells

Fargo

reports

By Mike Scarcella

Feb 25 (Reuters) - A leading attorney for billionaire

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and embattled New York Mayor Eric

Adams now has a standard billing rate of $3,000 an hour, placing

him on the top shelf among even the priciest of Manhattan

lawyers.

Alex Spiro, known for his high-profile clientele and

relentless litigation style, is among a small group of lawyers

at his law firm now billing the $3,000 rate, according to a

source familiar with the firm's billing practices.

Spiro's firm, 1,000-lawyer Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &

Sullivan, disclosed a range of new billing rates in court

filings in recent days. The source said the top rate applies to

Spiro and to William Burck, the firm's global co-managing

partner.

Top rates for the most in-demand U.S. lawyers have

skyrocketed in recent years, with the most senior partners

regularly charging more than $2,000 an hour and commanding

millions of dollars in annual pay.

Law firms sometimes tailor individual rates for clients or

apply discounts. It was unclear how much Spiro or Burck are

charging specific clients.

A spokesperson for Los Angeles-founded Quinn Emanuel declined to

comment. In addition to Musk and Adams, the firm's clients

include Alphabet's Google. In January, the Trump

Organization said it had hired Burck as an outside ethics

adviser. Spokespeople for Musk, Adams and the companies did not

immediately respond to requests for comment.

Spiro has represented Musk in several lawsuits, including

defamation and shareholder cases and litigation brought by the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He did not immediately

respond to a request for comment.

Spiro is currently defending Adams against criminal allegations

that the mayor took bribes from Turkish officials. Adams has

pleaded not guilty.

Burck, a longtime Republican insider, has defended Trump's

former political strategist Steve Bannon.

RATES ON THE RISE

Quinn Emanuel's $3,000 top rate marks a milestone for

leading U.S. law firms as lawyers' hourly fees continue to soar.

Law firms routinely raise their rates each year, and top rates

at some of the largest U.S. firms have pushed past $2,500 an

hour or higher in recent years, court records show.

Quinn Emanuel said in its court filings that its partners

now bill between $1,860 and $3,000 an hour. It said it will

charge between $1,775 and $2,725 an hour for "of counsel"

attorneys at the firm, and between $1,035 and $1,665 for

associates.

Billing rate increases helped drive growing revenue and

profits for U.S. law firms in 2024, Wells Fargo's Legal

Specialty Group said in a recent report.

Clients have been willing to accept "dramatic increases" in

rates, according to a report last month by the Thomson Reuters

Institute and the Georgetown Law Center on Ethics and the Legal

Profession. The institute and Reuters share the same parent

company, Thomson Reuters.

Court records show top rates at Quinn Emanuel have grown

about 34% since 2022, when partners billed up to $2,130 an hour.

Quinn Emanuel disclosed last year that it earned more than

$2 billion in revenue in 2023, according to industry publication

The American Lawyer.