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Below is an ordered list of 100 professional‑service roles ranked roughly by 2025 typical client‑facing hourly price (or, when only annual cash compensation is published, that figure converted to an hourly equivalent by dividing by 2 080 hours). Rates are U.S. averages unless noted; highly specialised “celebrity” practitioners may bill well above the ranges shown. A fourth column flags, at a high level, how likely today’s AI capabilities are to slash costs in the next 5‑10 years.
| # | Service / Role (2025) | Typical Hourly Price† | AI Cost‑Reduction Outlook‡ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elite Big‑Law senior partner – bet‑the‑company litigation | $2 800 – $3 000 | Low – courtroom advocacy & relationships remain human‑led (ABA Journal, TaxProf Blog) |
| 2 | Supreme‑Court appellate specialist | $2 600 | Low |
| 3 | Cross‑border M&A lead partner | $2 400 | Medium |
| 4 | Private‑equity fund counsel | $2 200 | Medium |
| 5 | White‑shoe tax controversy partner | $2 100 | High (research/brief‑drafting) |
| 6 | Investment‑bank MD (advisory fees) | ≈$2 000 | Medium (Salary.com) |
| 7 | Patent‑litigation first chair | $1 900 | Medium |
| 8 | Restructuring (Chapter 11) partner | $1 750 | Medium |
| 9 | Global strategy‑consulting senior partner | $1 500 – $1 600 | Medium |
| 10 | Leading forensic accounting expert witness | $1 400 | Medium |
| 11 | Celebrity architect (“starchitect”) principal | $1 300 | Low |
| 12 | Elite private mediator / arbitrator | $1 250 | Medium |
| 13 | Hedge‑fund portfolio manager (hourly equiv. of comp) | $1 200 | Medium |
| 14 | Board‑certified pediatric neurosurgeon | $1 100 | Low |
| 15 | Top executive‑search partner | $1 050 | High (sourcing & screening) |
| 16 | Radiologist (teleradiology rate) | $1 000 | High (Investopedia) |
| 17 | Orthodontist in high‑income metro | $900 | High (aligner AI planning) |
| 18 | Anesthesiologist (private practice) | $880 | Medium |
| 19 | Dermatologic Mohs surgeon | $850 | Medium |
| 20 | Pediatric orthopedic surgeon | $820 | Low |
| 21 | Cyber‑breach incident‑response attorney | $800 | Medium |
| 22 | Premier management‑consulting engagement manager | $780 | High (analytic synthesis) |
| 23 | FAA‑certified airline pilot (hourly equiv.) | $770 | Low (Bureau of Labor Statistics) |
| 24 | Family‑office CIO (equiv.) | $750 | Medium (robo‑allocation) |
| 25 | Reproductive‑endocrinologist (IVF) | $730 | Medium |
| 26 | Corporate crisis‑communications advisor | $700 | High (LLM drafting) |
| 27 | Petroleum reservoir engineer (consultant) | $680 | Medium |
| 28 | Cloud/AI solution architect (independent) | $650 | High |
| 29 | Celebrity interior designer | $630 | Medium |
| 30 | Private wealth‑management CFP (AUM basis → hr) | $600 | High |
| 31 | Venture‑capital general partner (comp ÷ 2 080) | $590 | Medium |
| 32 | Patent attorney (partner) | $580 | High (Salary.com) |
| 33 | Certified business valuator (litigation) | $560 | Medium |
| 34 | Aviation accident forensic engineer | $540 | Medium |
| 35 | Oral & maxillofacial surgeon | $520 | Low |
| 36 | Chief compliance officer (fractional) | $500 | High (policy LLMs) |
| 37 | Actuary (consulting) | $490 | High (probabilistic LLMs) |
| 38 | Data‑privacy adviser (CIPP/E, CIPP/US) | $480 | High |
| 39 | Professional athlete (MLB / NBA equiv.) | $470 | Low |
| 40 | AI research scientist (independent contracting) | $460 | High (tool self‑automation) |
| 41 | Economic damages economist | $450 | Medium |
| 42 | Neuroscientist expert witness | $440 | Medium |
| 43 | Luxury‑brand strategist | $430 | High |
| 44 | Structural engineer of record (complex high‑rise) | $420 | Medium (generative design) |
| 45 | Cybersecurity penetration‑testing lead | $410 | Medium |
| 46 | Semiconductor process engineer (consultant) | $400 | Medium |
| 47 | Chartered financial analyst (equiv.) | $390 | High |
| 48 | Quantitative risk‑model validator | $380 | High |
| 49 | Renewable‑energy project finance lawyer | $370 | Medium |
| 50 | Pharmacovigilance safety physician | $360 | Medium |
| 51 | Executive coach (Fortune 500 C‑suite) | $350 | Medium (AI feedback) |
| 52 | Luxury concierge doctor (concierge medicine) | $340 | Medium |
| 53 | Certified fraud examiner (CFE) | $330 | High |
| 54 | Clinical psychologist (private practice) | $320 | High (chat‑based CBT) |
| 55 | Industrial‑organisational psychologist | $310 | Medium |
| 56 | Certified public accountant – tax partner | $300 | High (return prep bots) |
| 57 | UX research lead (independent) | $290 | High |
| 58 | Veterinary surgical specialist | $280 | Medium |
| 59 | Geopolitical risk consultant | $270 | Medium (LLM scenario gen.) |
| 60 | Real‑estate appraisal MAI (litigation) | $260 | Medium |
| 61 | Maritime admiralty lawyer | $250 | Medium |
| 62 | Medical device regulatory affairs consultant | $240 | High |
| 63 | Certified information‑systems auditor (CISA) | $230 | High |
| 64 | Industrial hygienist (toxic tort cases) | $225 | Medium |
| 65 | Certified translation – simultaneous UN‑level | $220 | High (speech‑to‑speech LLMs) |
| 66 | High‑stakes grant proposal writer | $215 | High (text generation) |
| 67 | Speech‑language pathologist (private) | $210 | High (AI tele‑therapy) |
| 68 | Blockchain smart‑contract auditor | $205 | High |
| 69 | Aviation maintenance engineer (DER rate) | $200 | Medium |
| 70 | Fire‑protection engineer | $195 | Medium |
| 71 | Environmental impact assessment consultant | $190 | High (LLM summarisation) |
| 72 | Clinical trials data manager | $185 | Medium |
| 73 | Medical dosimetrist | $180 | Medium |
| 74 | Nurse anesthetist (CRNA) | $175 | Medium |
| 75 | Certified financial planner (retail) | $170 | High |
| 76 | Speech interpreter for Deaf‑Blind (tactile) | $165 | Medium (hardware limits) |
| 77 | Chartered property casualty underwriter | $160 | High |
| 78 | Corporate event production designer | $155 | Medium |
| 79 | Social‑impact measurement consultant | $150 | High |
| 80 | Occupational therapist (private) | $145 | High (gamified rehab bots) |
| 81 | Technical grant reviewer (NIH/NSF) | $140 | High |
| 82 | Building‑information‑modeling (BIM) coordinator | $135 | High |
| 83 | Advanced paramedic (agency bill rate) | $130 | Medium |
| 84 | Licensed clinical social worker (private) | $125 | High |
| 85 | Photogrammetry / 3‑D mapping specialist | $120 | Medium |
| 86 | Digital‑forensic analyst | $115 | High |
| 87 | Intellectual‑property paralegal (contract) | $110 | High |
| 88 | High‑complexity medical coder | $105 | High (LLM coding) |
| 89 | Senior technical writer – regulated docs | $100 | High |
| 90 | Specialty electrician (UL 508A panel design) | $95 | Medium (robotic install) |
| 91 | Freelance scientific illustrator | $90 | High (image generation) |
| 92 | Advanced EMT instructor | $85 | Medium |
| 93 | Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) | $80 | High (road‑mapping copilots) |
| 94 | Enterprise Salesforce administrator | $78 | High |
| 95 | Licensed drone pilot – industrial inspection | $75 | High (autonomous drones) |
| 96 | Online university adjunct professor | $72 | High (AI tutors) |
| 97 | Registered nurse (travel staffing rate) | $70 | Medium (robotic assistance) |
| 98 | Senior phlebotomy consultant (apheresis) | $68 | Medium |
| 99 | Bilingual court interpreter (state level) | $66 | High (real‑time speech AI) |
| 100 | Certified payroll specialist | $65 | High |
What this tells us – and where AI can really move the needle
- Research‑ and document‑heavy domains (legal drafting, tax prep, accounting, grant writing, translation, technical writing) dominate the “High” AI column. Generative‑AI copilots, retrieval‑augmented search and autonomous agents can already cut first‑draft time by 60‑90 %, and specialised legal/tax LLMs are clearing regulatory hurdles.
- Pattern‑recognition medical fields (radiology, dermatology, pathology, medical coding) also show high disruption potential. FDA‑cleared AI‑assist tools are spreading quickly, enabling one clinician to review many more studies per hour and raising hopes for lower imaging costs.
- Relationship‑ or dexterity‑intensive work (bet‑the‑company trial advocacy, high‑risk surgery, architecture driven by client aesthetics) remains costly and relatively resistant in the near term; AI will augment but not replace these practitioners.
- Hybrid advisory professions (investment banking, management consulting, wealth management) sit in the medium band: AI accelerates analysis, modelling and slide‑building, but clients still pay steep premiums for human trust, judgment and deal‑making.
† Sources include 2025 BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics, Salary.com, Valeo Partners and ABA Journal billing‑rate surveys, Investopedia’s 2025 highest‑paying‑jobs update, ConseilLink 2025 legal‑rate report, and recent public compensation studies. Numbers are harmonised to 2025 dollars. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Investopedia, ABA Journal, TaxProf Blog, Salary.com, Salary.com)
‡ Outlook legend: High = expect 40 %+ cost compression/throughput gain by 2030; Medium = meaningful automation of sub‑tasks but overall cost down <40 %; Low = AI mostly assists, labour cost dominance remains.