Professional services
Law Practice Revenue Per Attorney Calculator
Measures revenue per attorney, where the figure means nothing without the rate behind it.
Result
An average hides a lot. One strong performer and one struggling one produce the same average as two mediocre ones, and the management action is completely different.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Revenue divided by attorneys, with the contribution each makes after their own cost. The measure is useful inside a practice over time and poor across practices, because it conflates rate and hours: an attorney in a high-rate market billing modest hours and one in a low-rate market billing heavily can produce the same figure from opposite situations.
What moves the number
- Billable hours per attorney.
- Effective rate after realisation and collection.
- Practice area, which differs in both rate and volume.
- Support available, which affects billable share.
Where this one goes wrong
Decompose the figure into hours and effective rate before drawing any conclusion, because the two problems need opposite responses: low hours is a utilisation or pipeline issue, while a low effective rate is a pricing or realisation issue. A single number tells you something is off and nothing about which. Comparing across practice areas is also unreliable enough to be misleading, since areas differ in both rate and natural volume.
Before you quote
- Decompose into hours and effective rate.
- Compare within practice area only.
- Track the trend in your own practice rather than against benchmarks.
Questions
About this calculator
Is revenue per attorney a useful measure?
Inside a practice over time, yes. Across practices it conflates rate and hours: an attorney in a high-rate market billing modest hours and one in a low-rate market billing heavily produce the same figure from opposite situations, which is not a comparison.
How do I interpret a low figure?
Decompose it into hours and effective rate first, because low hours is a utilisation or pipeline problem while a low effective rate is a pricing or realisation one. They need opposite responses and the combined figure cannot tell you which you have.
Should it be compared across practice areas?
Not usefully, since areas differ in both achievable rate and natural matter volume. A figure that is strong in one area may be weak in another, and cross-area comparison inside a firm has caused plenty of unnecessary arguments.
The formula
revenue per unit = revenue / number of units; contribution = gross profit - cost of the unit
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Please keep the attribution line. It is the only thing we ask in return.
How to use this calculator
- Number of attorneys. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 5.
- Revenue per month ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $68,000.
- Cost of one attorney per month ($). Wages with burden, vehicle, tools, phone.
- Gross margin (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 58%.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to revenue per attorney, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Number of attorneys | 5 |
| Revenue per month | $68,000 |
| Cost of one attorney per month | $7,200 |
| Gross margin | 58% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Revenue per attorney main result | $13,600 |
| Per attorney per year | $163,200 |
| Gross profit each attorney generates | $7,888 |
| Contribution after their own cost | $688.00 |
Each attorney brings in $13,600 a month and contributes $688.00 after covering their own cost. Anything below zero there means adding people makes things worse, not better.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only revenue per month, this is what happens to revenue per attorney. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Revenue per month ($) | Revenue per attorney |
|---|---|
| $34,000 | $6,800 |
| $51,000 | $10,200 |
| $68,000 example above | $13,600 |
| $102,000 | $20,400 |
| $136,000 | $27,200 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Number of attorneys
- A number, between 0 and 2000, starting at 5.
- Revenue per month ($)
- A money amount, starting at $68,000.
- Cost of one attorney per month ($)
- Wages with burden, vehicle, tools, phone.
- Gross margin (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 95, starting at 58%.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Revenue per attorney | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Per attorney per year | A money figure. |
| Gross profit each attorney generates | A money figure. |
| Contribution after their own cost | A money figure. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.