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Padding hours at BIGLAW
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Date: July 28th, 2012 8:52 PM
300 hours is 10 hours a day 7 days a week. Even assuming a relatively efficient billing rate, that means working 9:30-9:30, EVERY SINGLE DAY all month long. It means no dinners with friends, no Sunday afternoon movies, no weekend trips to visit college friends. Nothing. Just work, gym (maybe) and sleep. Every day.
This partner--I'm not saying he never works, but I've also seen that he has dinner with his wife, sees his kids' softball games, stops off on the way home from business trips to see his folks, etc. Unless he never sleeps, it is physically impossible for him to be billing the kind of hours he says he is.
On the other hand, because he seems to have lied to himself long enough to believe it, he thinks if he can "bill" 280 a month, that we should do 250 no problem
There is NO WAY I can actually bill 250 a month ethically, month after month. One month, sure. Maybe even 2-3 in a row. But not 12 months a year.
I feel like I'm more or less being forced to choose between padding my hours or quitting because 250 is not doable in the long run--not honestly, at least.
Time to start looking for a new job? Or is it like this everywhere? |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 8:54 PM
diaf you rancid, lazy faggot. not everyone is a lazy malcontent faggot.
CHOKE ON A COCK AND DIE
have a blessed day! |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 8:56 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 8:57 PM
but everyone pads. |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:06 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 8:58 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:06 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:09 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:30 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:13 PM
I've already ramped up my billing as aggressively as I ethically can--I've starting billing .1 for the time I spend reading my overnight email in the morning before I get out of bed, another .1-.2 if I'm writing email on my Blackberry on the way into the office. But I won't just lie and I'm starting to get the feeling that's sort of what is expected of us. |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:15 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:32 PM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 1:20 PM it's really safe to assume every op from a pumo is flame. |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:07 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:15 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:21 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:24 PM
The month I billed 230 was the month the partner said he wouldn't add people to the team unless everyone was billing 250 and the work still wasn't getting done.
The guy in the office next to me billed 200 last month and was added to a new case this month. Also, because of the shitty economy circa 2010 (when we were hiring for fall 2012), we only have 5 new associates beginning this fall, and as far as I know the firm isn't trying to hire any laterals. |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:32 PM
if you're in a half decent firm they'll let you take a nice fat monthlong vacation if you're way over. even juniors i know have taken a month off after a case settles because they racked up like 600 in two months. |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:44 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:48 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:52 PM
The talk among the associates is that the partners are trying to get us to return to a 2007 billing mentality by shrinking the department so that we're all billing as much as the people did in 2007. I don't know if this is just speculation or not. We obviously get paid a lot less than people did in 2007. |
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Date: January 27th, 2013 11:14 PM
Edit: There was a partner in my previous law firm that would bill like how your partner billed; however, rumor was that he billed for traveling. He was rainmaker. So, he would rack up 10 hours easily by flying out to Asia or Europe. |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:26 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:28 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:33 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:42 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:34 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:33 PM |
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Date: January 27th, 2013 11:13 PM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 8:39 AM
highly recommended if the partner is a smart dude. |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:35 PM |
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Date: January 27th, 2013 11:01 PM
to meet your hours most people need 200+ hour months to make up for the inevitably slow months. |
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Date: January 27th, 2013 11:14 PM |
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Date: January 27th, 2013 11:16 PM |
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Date: January 27th, 2013 11:28 PM
In lit you're handling 5-8 matters at a time over the course of years. |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:08 AM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:20 AM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:21 AM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:23 AM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:30 AM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:41 AM
yes, and it sounds like I'm a lot more senior than you are.
"yes most juniors are on very large matters and those very large matters last a very long time with consistent work."
one can hope, but in real life almost all cases settle. some settle right before trial. however, most settle at strategic points like before significant discovery, depositions, etc.
"usually they're doc reviews. if one matter dries up, you do more work on another one you're already on,"
so more work magically shows up on other matters? work that wasn't being done by anyone suddenly is created? the case was understaffed thus allowing a now slow associate to pick up the slack?
"or jump on a new one,"
so there are lots of cases just floating around ITE?
"or do pro bono to fill in the time."
these are not billable hours and thus irrelevant.
"back to the point, this leads to very consistent hours as far as biglaw goes."
not really. |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:56 AM
I do not believe you are a litigation associate.
Doc reviews are as many hours as you want. At a big law shop there are always doc reviews you can get on (lately).
Pro bono does count for billables at some firms.
90 percent of my months have been 165-185.
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Date: January 29th, 2013 12:51 AM |
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Date: January 29th, 2013 12:48 AM
lol oh SNAP i just dun got served |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:22 AM
You can't even write a consistent sentence. |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:24 AM
1-3 big matters...
1 "VERY" big matter and a few "SMALLER" (i.e. big but not very big) cases.
still don't understand idiot? |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:37 AM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:41 AM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 9:49 PM |
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Date: July 28th, 2012 10:36 PM
"eats dinner with his family... Watches his kids softball games..etc etc" |
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Date: January 27th, 2013 11:08 PM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 7:53 AM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 12:43 PM
<gasp> |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 8:24 AM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 3:47 PM |
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Date: January 28th, 2013 11:30 PM |
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Date: January 29th, 2013 12:29 AM
Not true at all. There are a lot of hours in the day if you use them efficiently (not saying I do, but it's possible). |