Big Law Discussions
Billable Hours

Approaching 1 YOE in consultancy; 9 YOE in industry (med device). $100k base at hire. Annual/merit increase to $106k. Band median is $115k. During perf. review, hiring supervisor targeted median this year. Different supervisor now due to promotions, though. Thoughts on asking for a raise at service anniversary (not even 6 mos since increase)?

My billable rate x hours has me leaving $$$ on the table. I see job posts at $125k+, but I hate interviewing and have no desire to jump (maybe OE?).

Are there any successful alternative fee arrangements/business models other than billable hours? Excluding contingency in plaintiff.

Are there any successful alternative fee arrangements/business models other than billable hours? Excluding contingency in plaintiff.

Need y’all to convince me I’m making the right decision by switching into consulting now instead of going to law school lol. One year out of college and I see some red flags (debt, billable hours, etc) in the legal field that I don’t like. Worked my whole life to get to law school. Am I making the right decision? Thanks in advance.

Any billable time tips?

What do we think this industry will look like in ten years? Do we still have biglaw firms with billable hours? Do we have more focus on alternative fee structures?

I am concerned with fulfilling billable hours requirement. I’m required to hit 2100 hours yearly and I’m at ~1,500 hours and I think I’ll hit 150-180hours this month. What will happen if I don’t hit my targeted amount by the end of my year.

Will be starting at KPMG in a few weeks as an A2. What is the onboarding process like, and how long will it be before I start on billable work?

Got laid off 4 weeks ago from a crumbling start up, though walked away with a decent package. Took a couple days to process and finally registered my own design consulting business (which was the main reason for switching to the in-house start up role I got laid off from in the first place).

I am lucky to have landed on a few clients now, working half the billable hours I used to but making more than before and no one to report to. But the fear of not having the next client line up is so real!

Are any other paralegals struggling with billable hour requirements? I have 5 years of experience in corporate transactions, M&A, and real estate work, and have never had billable hour requirements. I'm in a new job now where I do and I'm nowhere near meeting them. I'm getting a lot more admin work than billable work, and it's stressing me out.

I put my 2 weeks in and I literally have no billable work right now. Are they watching my billables? Can I just chalk this up as part of my "unlimited" vacation time? I'm available if needed, but also working remote, so could get away with doing bare minimum, I think.

For those working agency-side, what is your requirement for daily/weekly billable hours and time tracking? Trying to find a balance between what is fair and contributes towards a positive work environment, but still profitable.

Is $70,000/year, requiring 1600 billable hours, with a $4K bonus if I make the billable hours requirement, reasonable for family law?
The practice is 10-20 people; 5 attorneys if I join. In the suburb of Atlanta, GA.

Any tips for a meeting 1800 billable hours as a new corporate associate? Is WLB realistic expectation? I know it's not terrible compared to other firms, but any insight would be great!

Hello, I am graduating shortly and starting bar prep. Should I accept an offer to start at my firm early or stick with the post-bar start date? It would be hourly to avoid the billable requirements and I would be off all of July for hard-core bar prep. Aside from risk to bar prep, are there any other downsides to starting hourly?

Everyday I can’t seem to hit the required billable hours. I’m overwhelmed by emails and people asking me where an item is. I feel like I’m not good enough. I keep making mistakes I shouldn’t make at my level. I wish I could just quit so I wouldn’t have to be miserable everyday.

Why do firms have billable minimums or requirements for associates? This may be a stupid question. If an associate works really hard and delivers good work product in a timely manner, while also seeking additional assignments when needed, don’t the billable hours take care of itself? If I’m seeking more work and not getting any, whose fault is that? I’ve been told I do really good work. But this whole billable requirement thing really pisses me off.

If you do billable work on a given PTO/vacation day, do you still count that day as vacation? Or do you get that vacation day "back"? Or do you only get the part that you billed "back"? (Or some other option.)

How do most people’s firms calculate billable hours for associates? In other words, what hours are counted towards your target? Do you get credit for things like CLE’s, mandatory trainings, etc.? What about pro bono work (assigned by the firm) or writing for firm publications? Or time that a billing partner writes off on paid matters? What about sick or other leave credits? Is it pretty much everyone’s experience that it’s just straight billable hours on paying clients?

Recent lateral junior associate in brand new practice where I'm the only associate. I'm probably going to bill 1,500 hours max this year due to being very slow and taking time off for a delayed honeymoon which I disclosed during my interview process. I have been told my work product is good, I don't turn anything down, I participate in non-billable work, I'm responsive and I always let people know I'm available to help. Do I need to be worried about getting fired for low hours?

How many billable hours do people in prosecution tend to average each month? I’ve gone through waves of feeling like my billable hours requirement is reasonable to feeling like I’m drowning and can’t possibly do it for that long.

I started my first in-house role about 4 months ago and I don’t think it’s the right fit. I love the no billable hours aspect, but otherwise I miss the structure of being at a firm. How long do you think I should try to stick this out before I move on? I want to give the job a real shot - and i know the transition to in-house can be jarring…but I also don’t want to spend too much time in a job that is a wrong fit.

Following a comment on another thread, I wanted to air some of my public accounting complaints (feel free to add yours!)

- How is it the staff's problem if the budget is low? I bill what I work, and if the engagement is complex or the client's documents suck, I have to bill that.

- Why are billable hours worked part of performance reviews if it's the partners' responsibility to 1) Obtain engagements and 2) Distribute the work accordingly. So why do I suffer if my billable hours are low?

Looking at going to a smaller consulting firm for litigation valuation and forensic accounting. Salaried position. Can someone explain to me billable hours though and how that comes into play when you have a set yearly salary?

Man, I am so tired of the whole concept of timesheets, billable hours, utilization, etc. that is public accounting.

Is it a red flag if during an interview the partner asks how your billable hours were last year? Could be just a standard question but I wasn’t sure.. I’ve never been asked that before in interviews.

New campus hire in TAS, does not having enough billable hours hurt me? I've asked people for work, but they don't seem to have any I can help with, and when I do get work it's random 1-2 hr things like tag the tb or reconcile financials. Is this common?

Why are the expectations on billable hours so extreme on lawyers? Consulting, accounting and other comparable jobs, apart from investment bankers, are way below lawyers.

And it’s not that lawyers won’t make enough money if they work less - reduce hours by 10% and you’d still be making fortunes as a partner and a small fortune as an associate.

How much do in-house attorneys actually work? I know there’s no billable req. and I always thought they were chilling with a cush 9-5/9-3 gig, no nights no weekends. But now I’m not so sure it’s so rainbows and butterflies. Looking at pre-IPO start ups and newly IPOd companies non-FAANG but in tech. My main desire is WLB. Should I try a boutique with scaled down billable hours or in-house with no billable hours? Help!

One strange thing about going in-house after a long time in private practice is that without billable hours or revenues received as a measuring stick, I feel like my contributions are too nebulous to be valued. I know it’s just confirming, but its been a couple of years and I still feel like Brooks in Shawshank - I don’t know how things work outside of my prior environment. I’ve been institutionalized!

How long does it typically take to ramp up as a mid-level lateral? I’ve gotten maybe 5 hours of billable work since I started 3 weeks ago…

Weird Question: Insurance Defense Related. Started at a new firm about a year and a half ago. The partner insists that the paralegal he has bill for discovery. I find this incredibly odd as I’m not “killing it” with billable hours. This seems odd…… do any other insurance defense firms work like this?

I recently started a new job in ID coming from a practice area where I didn’t really have to worry about billables. It worked out for me because I’m a pretty fast learner/worker and got more stuff done. Like today, I had to draft law and motion and I finished it in an hour and a half. (will need revision, ofc) but when my supervising partner was looking at my billable hours, he said it was impossible that I finished it in that time. I foresee this happening often in the future. Any tips?

How is productivity measured for in-house attorneys? Is there any analog of billable hours for in-house lawyers?

Anyone have any tips about Ward & Smith, specifically their Corporate M&A group? Billable hours, general culture, etc. Anything appreciated!

Is there any easy way to bill for emails? At the end of each month I spend way too much time trying to collect the 0.1s from the month. I go day by day with my emails, sent then received. It’s so boring and time consuming but I have never known an easier way (aside from entering emails daily, but I find that doesn’t work either because if you get multiple emails on a case in a day, you’d have to keep editing the entry.) F billable hours