In hindsight, I should’ve been a paralegal at Sullivan & Cromwell. Here’s its 2026 billing rates filed in the Linqto Bankruptcy case. Partners: $1,995 to $2,890 per hour; Associates: $1,075 to $1,890 per hour; Paralegals: $550 to $730 per hour. Even with AI - $730 for a paralegal? Let me speak for regular people: GTFOH! Most law firms bill in 6-minute increments - which equals one-tenth of an hour (0.1). In sum, 6-minute billing increments are the industry standard, especially in BigLaw. In other words, the minimum billable unit = 0.1 hour (6 minutes). Therefore, if you send a 2 sentence email to your lawyer who takes 20 seconds to read it, you get billed, per industry standards, the minimum billable rate of 6 minutes. Hence, a Partner at S&C who’s billable rate is $2,890 - would bill you $289 to read the two sentence email. Btw, for 30 years I’ve been a lawyer litigating both criminal cases (murder, attempted murder, rape, etc.) and multimillion dollar civil cases (mesothelioma, wrongful death, etc.) against some of the biggest law firms in America (Baker McKenzie, Jones Day, DLA Piper, Skadden Arps, Greenberg Traurig, etc.) and during that time, I have met and litigated against some of the most talented and brilliant lawyers on the planet. But I have yet to meet one, including myself, worth $2,890 per hour. Now you understand why - in the Linqto case - I said it was imperative to reach a fair solution as fast as possible. Billing even half the rate of S&C and after 2 years of bankruptcy it would exceed $200 million.(John E Deaton)