Q2 2026: Demand Up 3%, Rates Up 7.1% — But the Workload Is Landing on Associates, Not Partners

Thomson Reuters Institute's Q2 2026 Law Firm Financial Index (published August 10, covering 195 large and mid-sized U.S. law firms) showed overall legal demand rising 3% year-over-year, putting 2026 on pace for the strongest year since 2021. Billing rates increased 7.1%, a pace described in the report as "almost unthinkable" before the sustained rate cycle that began in 2021. The demand distribution detail is what matters most for client teams: non-equity partner demand grew 6.0%, associate demand grew 4.3%, while equity partner demand actually declined 1.2%. The signal for BD directors is that senior partner attention is increasingly scarce, while the work product arriving at clients is more heavily associate- and non-equity-partner-driven. Client satisfaction and retention programs should account for this gap — the partner relationship a client values may not be the partner actually staffing their matters.