Hourly Rate Arrangements Eclipse Flat Rate Agreements By A Substantial Margin.
8 am, on October 22, 2026, issued the 8am SMB Law Billing and Payments Report (available on the Internet)—based on an analysis of billing and payment trends for the first half of 2026 from 60,000-plus U.S. firms—showing that hourly billing arrangements remain prevalent among small and mid-size law firms as compared with flat fee arrangements. Hourly billing eclipsed flat fee arrangements by more than 4-to-1 in the first half of 2026. 48% of survey respondents billed entirely by the hour, while only 10% exclusively used flat fees. Of the remaining 42%, firms used a combination of both, but more than half of the firms transmitted a quarter or fewer of their invoices on a flat fee basis. (Practice areas made a difference, with traffic-violation and immigration work having flat fees way above the norm—88% for traffic firms and 64% for immigration firms.)
Firms in the survey billed more, but not because of hourly rates. The increase came from invoicing more of the recorded time. Also, firms are surcharging more for credit card payments. Traffic firms were the most likely to have an invoice paid off within a month, while workers’ compensation firms were the least likely but had the fewest overdue invoices of any practice area. Family law had the highest share of overdue invoices—32%.