Lawyers charge £900 per hour

LONDON insolvency lawyers have ramped their fees up to £900 per hour as the economic crisis deepens, it emerged today.

Partners at "magic circle" firms have upped rates by up to £300 in the past 18 months, online legal advice service Virtual Law said.

A senior lawyer working on a high-profile administration such as Woolworths could command £6,300 a day.

In 2007 Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters and Slaughter and May charged £600 to £750 per hour, and in 2003, £375 to £450.

But other legal areas, such as conveyancing, have been hit hard by the recession.