Big Law Discussions
Billable Hours

Thoughts on leaving law to become a contract manager? Small law experience. Billable hours driving me nuts. Is there growth potential in house from a contracts manager position?

Has anyone received full bonuses even without hitting your billable hours target?

Manager : why didn’t you reach out more when you had unassigned days?
Me : I am ahead of schedule for my billable hours for the year and when I worked 3 back to back weekends nobody reached out to take some work off my shoulders? Those unassigned days were already been worked.
Manager : *silence*

I work in a 7-attorney firm with a national presence. Partly because I’m only a few months in, I work a roughly 8-6 day. I’m also new to billing and often find myself working all day and billing just 4 hours. Whenever I bring this up to the partner, he says it’s good we’re not over billing our client. We don’t have minimum billable hours so it doesn’t matter much for the firm’s sake but I think I’m missing out on learning the important skill of billing my time. Has anyone ever experienced this?

Best big and mid size firms in Atlanta for real estate? When considering billable hours, comp, culture, etc. I’d appreciate hearing from anyone that generally likes their firm or has any recommendations on firms to stay away from. Considering making the move from a boutique firm as a 5th year lateral.

I am going into my second year practicing law. I am at a small litigation firm (I would prefer not to give my location but will say that I am not in a big market). I am curious as to what the norm is re: billable hours. My firm only gives credit for hours actually billed to the client. This seems wrong? If a partner cuts my time… or the client refuses to may for some of my time (even if I DID THE WORK)… that time doesn’t count towards my total billable hours.

Need some advice, I’m a third year healthcare/corp/M&A associate in Texas from a small firm. Was let go today because of recent hires and not enough billable work. Feel like I should try everything possible to secure another job and still a bit shocked. So if anyone in this bowl has any leads, please let me k ow! TIA!

Need some advice, I’m a third year healthcare/corp/M&A associate in Texas from a small firm. Was let go today because of recent hires and not enough billable work. Feel like I should try everything possible to secure another job and still a bit shocked. So if anyone in this bowl has any leads, please let me k ow! TIA!

Need some advice, I’m a third year healthcare/corp/M&A associate in Texas from a small firm. Was let go today because of recent hires and not enough billable work. Feel like I should try everything possible to secure another job and still a bit shocked. So if anyone in this bowl has any leads, please let me k ow! TIA!

If you take vacation, is the onus on you to make up that billable time? If so, how do you enjoy long vacations?

How easy is it to settle a case when working at a plaintiff’s firm? (Please excuse my lack of knowledge here.) I read about how much people hate litigation/are trying to get out and then I have friends who talk about how they want to go to the plaintiff’s side because you can make a percentage of your settlements AND there are no billable requirements. I’m in the former boat of trying to leave litigation altogether to go into corporate law. Is it all just “the grass is greener” talk?

I have had an insane yr- looking like I’m going to beat billable goal by 400+ hours. I’m supposed to take the last two weeks of the year off but after looking @ my todo list I’m getting severely pessimistic about being able to meet the deadlines and actually taking the PTO. All of these are court deadlines and I’m not in a position to move them. Bc of the crazy year, pandemic, etc. I am running on fumes. How do I make it these last few weeks? How do you ever take real pto in this industry?

Started at a new firm 5 months ago and I still don’t have a full workload and because of that my billing sucks. I’ve reached out to my supervising attorney, 2 partners, and even looped in someone from admin just to see if she knew if anyone needs help. I specifically say things like “can I take some work off your hands? I need more billable work” and I get a few small things but still behind on my total billables. One of the partners talked to me about my billing but I just feel stuck. Cont’d

How many billable hours do you charge a year?

Has anyone made a move from a boutique firm to Big Law, regretted it, stuck it out, and found success? I am in the ‘regretted it’ phase, but it may be culture shock. I started as a legal assistant for a solo practitioner 11 years ago and am now an IP Paralegal. I’ve never had keep track of billable time, and I think that’s one of the biggest adjustments.

How many billable hours do you aim for per month? Thinking of lateraling to a firm with no official hours target and wondering what I should be aiming for - is 170/mo (2000 per year) acceptable? Don’t want to burn out but also don’t want to get fired lol. I also understand there’s little control over how much I’ll work but just wondering what y’all think is good enough.

How is the billable rate for each associate determined at your firm? Does everyone in the same class bill out at the same rate?

My current billable hours target is 2100 and I am considering moving to a firm with 2000 minimum. Regardless of the compensation, would a 100 hour difference make some different or would it feel just the same?

Seeking input:
I’ve received an offer to join a V50 at market (Class of ‘19, T30). Im currently a boutique where I’m being paid $160k. Despite being told my billables would be 120-150, I’m averaging 200 a month. Partner kind of leaves me to figure things out, and when I inevitably make mistakes, can be very demeaning. Is it a no-brainer to jump ship? Obviously I’ll be making more money for the same (if not less) billable hours. But what are some other considerations?

My firm has billable hours and I hate it. I’m going to do my work anyways but having that extra pressure to bill a certain number is stressful, especially when work gets slow at times. I’ve heard people say that it’s actually worse not to have billable hours. Any thoughts?

Opinions welcomed:

V5 Legal Assistant here (2 years in industry, started at current firm in late April). I’m on pace for 2700 billable hours / year. To boot, that rate is going up because of all of the 65+ hour weeks lately, and the first month being billed around 40.

I was just told that I may not qualify for any bonuses because I haven’t been here for 1 year.

Is this normal? Am I crazy for thinking that I should be getting a *significant* bonus for all of the crazy hours and deadlines?

I am about to finish my first year at a small firm of 9 attorneys in Ohio. I will hit 1800 billable hours by year end. I am making $70k. Am I being robbed? (I have not been informed of the bonus or raise policy.)

Can anyone provide any insight on Hinckley Allen? Boston in particular. Good place to work? Billable hours requirement? Any info would be helpful. Thanks!

I’m a 2010 grad working in house. Healthcare industry. I’m fairly well compensated for IHC but don’t love my job.

I am talking to 2 different firms about SC roles. One is a mid AL100, the other is AL200. Both in Midwest. Billable rate would be $400-500/hr. Neither firm has given me any sense of potential comp range yet as discussions are early. I’m trying to get an idea of what might be reasonable before I invest a lot more time continuing to talk with them. Anyone with insight they can share?

I’m a 2010 grad working in house. Healthcare industry. I’m fairly well compensated for IHC but don’t love my job.

I am talking to 2 different firms about SC roles. One is a mid AL100, the other is AL200. Both in Midwest. Billable rate would be $400-500/hr. Neither firm has given me any sense of potential comp range yet as discussions are early. I’m trying to get an idea of what might be reasonable before I invest a lot more time continuing to talk with them. Anyone with insight they can share?

What’s a reasonable salary for a junior associate at a mid-size (150+) insurance defense firm? Is $100k w/bonus at 1900 billable hours fine?

Hi all,

I am graduating with my Master’s of Accountancy In May of 2022, and have offers from Moss Adam’s and RSM both in Dallas. Can anyone compare the two for me in terms of billable hours requirements and office culture or anything else that comes to mind? Both are in tax with similar offers.

Am I making enough profit for my firm?

I became a 2 year lawyer in September. I started working at my firm, a mid-sized firm practicing commercial business litigation and PI, in March of 2020. Last year I made the firm $180k from my billable hours and I was paid $85k + full health and other benefits.

This year, I'm on track to make about $150k and to make the firm about $450k from my billable hours and PI cases that I originated and settled.

Trying to do right for my firm. I'm treated well.

How does consulting work at Deloitte? I am an Accounting major and know about billable for tax and audit. How many hours of billable work are you expected to work at Deloitte SAP practice? Are you expected to work 50+ billable every week? Thank you. How hard is it? Just want info before I make a decision whether to jump ship.

Is it just me, or is even just 8 billable hours per day exhausting?

Does Big4 really work more than mid tier when it comes to audit or is the busy season just condensed? Currently on pace for 1700 billable hours. Is that average?

Just curious, what percentage of your billable rate do you take home? Calculation would be ((Salary and Bonus/Yearly Billable Hours)/Billable Rate). For me it's about 18% as a Senior 1 in M&A Tax (note this doesn't include other benefits).

How long does it take you to bill 8 hours a day? I’m a first year and feel like I’m not as efficient as I could be or am under billing. It takes me 10-12 hours to bill 8. This includes the hour I take for lunch and dinner, some breaks for bathroom, and non billable time like entering time etc. how are people billing 200 hours a month? What am I doing wrong?

How do you all handle non-billable work on top of meeting your billable targets (assuming no minimum requirement and bonus threshold not an issue)? I.e. If you have two hours of non-billable work to do (but it’s work that can be added to your time sheet like business development) do you still bill ~8 hours of billable work on top of that for a total of 10hrs on your sheet?

Was on the bench for a while (5 months) and just about to get rolled onto a new project in a role I’m not very passionate about and is a lateral move but it’s billable work. I recently got a verbal offer from a smaller consulting company to step into a role that is a huge step forward in my career. I’m going through clearance for my current role and recently learned many are leaving the project to work on other projects so I and one other person will be the only ones left.…

The ebbs and flows of a junior associate (<1yr)... I was approached by my managing parter today about my billable hours. I make an honest effort to bill 40 hours a week and average 37-40 hrs. I learned today that many of these hours are written off by partners and my realized hours are only 30-ish. Now I'm expecting to bill at least 50 hours a week to make up for that deficit. I don't understand why so much time is not realized. Has anyone else had this problem?