Legal fees paid to private firms cut. (rates for state jobs) (Law Firms Affected by Soft Economic Conditions) (Industry Overview)

Claiming the state has been paying too much, Attorney General Grant Woods is capping the amount private law firms can charge for state business.

Woods says partners at private firms now will be paid only $125 an hour on state jobs. He says his office has been quoted rates as high as $240 an hour for such work.

Associates will get a maximum of $100 an hour under the new plan.

Woods also has instituted a host of new rules, ranging from limiting the number of lawyers who can attend meetings to regulating the charge for copying documents.

Woods' agency is responsible for handling all of the state's lawsuits as well as representing and giving legal advice to virtually …