Is Your Work Worth $1.2 Million?

That's what law firm partners in DC bill, $600 an hour according to Orin Kerr at Volokh passing on a study.  I'm giving them a break by saying they only bill 2,000 hours a year. (Indeed, one commenter says they can bill 5,000 hours easily.)  I'm not sure what a government lawyer gets, but it can't be more than 15 percent of that.

This disparity could explain why corporations always sometimes outmaneuver the federal government. What it doesn't explain, indeed it aggravates the mystery, is why the right claims federal government employees are so vastly overpaid.