The hourly rates of the country's top lawyers are increasingly coming with something new -- a comma. A few attorneys crossed into $1,000-per-hour billing before this year, but recent moves to the four-figure mark in New York, which sets trends for legal markets around the country, are seen as a significant turning point. On Sept. 1, New York's Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP will raise its top rate to more than $1,000 from $950. A select group of attorneys began billing at that rate before this year, such as Stephen Susman, a founding partner of a Houston firm who has...
