A fifth year associate. I have never met my billable hours. Is that weird?

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I wouldn’t feel bad under the circumstances. But let me tell you my horror story. I was basically fired from a small firm (two other attorneys) for not meeting billables when there was not enough work to go around. My billing requirement was already super low, but they didn’t want to pay for a paralegal or legal assistant, so that was basically my job. And they strictly controlled how much I could bill clients for that kind of work. (Couldn’t bill for many of my emails; only a .1 for many tasks that were really a .2 or a .3) It was ridiculous. They also strictly controlled how much I could bill clients for actual legal work. One of the partners told me that unless I was researching a really novel issue, I wasn’t allowed to bill for research “because I’m an attorney and should know the answers”. It was such a struggle. It was a new firm which obviously wanted to charge clients something they could afford. But still, I barely did anything substantive, there was very little work, and to add insult to injury, I was fired for this. (I know have a much better, much higher paying job at a firm with plenty of work, real mentorship, lots of collaboration
—it’s great)

So to answer your question, don’t feel bad. But the situation depends on the vibe of the firm.

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Borderline unethical

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Yes

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Depends on the group

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Yes, 4th year here. I'd be terrified of not meeting my billable requirement

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Not weird.

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At my firm I’m pretty sure there would be some sort of penalty for not meeting billables. Although, we pick our annual billable hours and our salary is tied to that.

Anyone who also didn’t make 1900-2000 hours at a firm that doesn’t have a hours requirement?

I’m a sixth year and I’ve never done it 🤷🏼‍♀️ my salary is fine.

What firm?

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