How It Works

The State Bar of Michigan Economics of Law Practice Survey is a free member benefit. Members can anonymously participate in the survey by providing some basic information to confirm their membership in the State Bar. Participants are then provided a unique password to login and get started with the survey.

Survey data is collected from each participant through the LawPracticeEconomics.com web site once each calendar year. As soon as a participant has registered and submitted data to the survey, they will have immediate access to the survey results through the end of the calendar year. Please note that participation in the survey is required to have access to the survey results; further, survey participants may only enter data once per year.

The next survey questionnaire submission deadline is December 31, 2007

Before You Begin

Before beginning the Economics of Law Practice Survey, participants may find it helpful to gather some of the following information:

  • Personal State Bar of Michigan membership number.
  • Personal gross income (before taxes) for the previous calendar year.
  • The firm's gross receipts for the previous calendar year, if applicable.
  • The firm's expenses for attorney and staff salaries, benefits and overhead costs, if applicable.

Navigation through the Survey

Completing the Economics of Law Practice Survey questionnaire is simple. The on-line questionnaire includes approximately fifty questions, depending on the attorney's situation, and will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Participants begin with 'Step 1: Begin New Survey', as described below, to start a new survey for the current year. As each page of the survey questionnaire is completed, the participant can simply click the 'Next' button at the bottom of the page to continue with the next set of questions.

All survey data entry can be completed at any computer with access to the Internet. The survey does not need to be completed in one session; survey data entry is designed to allow participants to start, stop and restart the process without losing previously entered information.

  • Step 1: Begin New Survey - To begin the survey, participants must click on this link to initialize the participant's survey questionnaire and prepare it for data entry. After survey data has been entered and submitted to LawPracticeEconomics.com, that data remains visible, but cannot be changed, until a new survey has been started. Participants may only submit one survey for each calendar year.
  • Step 2: Demographics - In this section, participants are asked about attorney demographics, including office location, type and size, as well as attorney work classification, fields of practice, age, gender and ethnicity.
  • Step 3: Billing and Income - In this section, participants are asked to answer questions regarding firm billing and time keeping practices, rates and fees, as well as attorney income levels.
  • Step 4: Expenses - In this section, participants are asked about individual attorney- and firm-related expenses, including staffing levels, benefit plans and insurance premiums.
  • Step 5: Staff Compensation - In this section, participants are asked to provide salary information for their firm's support staff.
  • Step 6: Practice Dynamics - In this section, participants are asked about their technology usage and marketing activities as well as their perceptions and the outlook for the legal profession within the State.
  • Step 7: Submit the Completed Survey - When participants have completed the survey, they will be asked to submit it to the LawPracticeEconomics.com database. By completing this simple one-click process, the participant will indicate that they have completed the survey entry process. Survey data will then be reviewed to ensure that all required fields have been completed.

    It is important to note that answers provided while completing the survey questionnaire can be changed prior to submission of the completed survey. However, once the survey has been submitted, participants will not be able to change their answers.

Survey Results

Upon completion and submittal of their completed survey questionnaire, results are available to participants 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at www.LawPracticeEconomics.com. The results are divided into two major groupings, as follows:

  • Attorney-related Results
  • Firm-related Results

Attorney Results Selection Tools

With the exception of the Profile of the Typical Michigan Attorney, all attorney survey results can be selected and filtered by criteria that will allow participants to customize and identify results based on:

  • Work Classification
  • Field of Practice
  • Office Location

The Profile of the Typical Michigan Attorney results present an overview of relvant information on the 'typical' Michigan attorney, and as such, includes all survey respondents reporting that their principal practice location was in the State of Michigan.

Attorney Results

The attorney-related survey results are organized into the following areas:

  • Profile of the Typical Michigan Attorney, including State Bar of Michigan membership demographics, attorney median income, firm hourly billing rates, attorney perceptions of the legal services market, and office expenditures and gross receipts.
  • Attorney Income, including attorney income statistics that can be selected and filtered to view survey results by the criteria listed above.
  • Attorney Economics, including billable and non-billable time, the impact of educational debt and benefit programs that can be selected and filtered to view survey results by the criteria listed above.
  • Attorney Perceptions and opinions of the legal profession and its outlook that can be selected and filtered to view survey results by the criteria listed above.
  • Law Office Technology, including equipment usage, availability and acceptance within the firm that can be selected and filtered to view survey results by the criteria listed above.

Firm Results Selection Tools

All firm survey results can be selected and filtered by criteria that will allow participants to customize and identify results based on:

  • Firm Size
  • Office Location

Firm Results

The firm-related survey results are organized into the following areas:

  • Billing Rates for Attorneys, Associates and Legal Assistants that can be selected and filtered to view survey results by the criteria listed above.
  • Billing Practices, including firm billing, collection and record-keeping practices that can be selected and filtered to view survey results by the criteria listed above.
  • Law Office Economics, including firm overhead expenses and gross receipts, and patterns in legal services marketing that can be selected and filtered to view survey results by the criteria listed above.
  • Staff Salaries and Benefits, including staffing levels, salaries and benefits provided that can be selected and filtered to view survey results by the criteria listed above.

Need Help?

Assistance with the data entry process or the results can be obtained by contacting the LawPracticeEconomics.com Customer Support Department at LawPracticeEconomics@synergysolns.com.