Yes, it is May... but the ONS release was dated April based on data to 31 March. So at this point, I think pick a month you like the look of :) Broadly it looks like input inflation for law firms is around 2.5-3.0% with increased inflationary risks in the second half of 2026 and output inflation (legal prices) stabilising at around 6%. However, predicting where prices are going from here is unusually fraught - up if we see an inflation shock from the Iran war? Down if we see

Not a trick question With UK firms looking ahead to set standard rates for 2026/27, there's a tension in raising standard rates, knowing that realisation will likely dip Partners will be concerned about falling realisation in two ways in the coming months: (1) any inflationary increase to the firm's standard rate card, and (2) any upwards drift in rates (e.g. the individual on an NQ rate today, is on a higher 1 PQE rate tomorrow) Even a relatively modest increase to the stand

When the unstoppable force of AI meets the immovable object of the billable hour... The OpenAIs and Anthropics of this world are moving away from all you can eat subscription pricing to subscription + token usage, or just straight up token pricing - and this emerging pricing model is now far more compatible with traditional hourly rate billing Yes - fixed fees and value based pricing better etc etc. My observation here is a practical, rather than ideological, one But the path