Enthusiast
Related Posts
What’s everyone up to this weekend? 🥳
Rising Star
Flushed and fed yesterday!
Additional Posts in Big Law
Subject Expert
Community Builder
Subject Expert
Coach
Enthusiast
Did you make a mistake working in BigLaw? Why?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Mentor
Averaging 250 a month comes out to 3000 hours a year. 200k after taxes and 401k is 150ish divide that by 3000 hours and you are at a whopping 60 ish bucks an hour. Moral of the story is the more you work the less you are worth. And that bonus doesn’t make up for it because it is taxed to the max and would probably only get you to 100 bucks an hour. Nothing.
Man some of you need to submit yourself to Guinness book of records given the longest recorded time without sleep was 11 days. Those of you saying you would get less than 2-3 hours/day for a month straight.
It's what you did, but with even more work and less sleep.
Ive done as much as 330 in a month. Was brutal. Had no time for anything else and was completely miserable. Late nights every night. A few all nighters. Disregarded everything in my life but work.
With that said, I know a few ppl who have done 400 month hours, and I truly can't comprehend that.
Start working 8am every morning and go to bed between 2-4am every day. Work every weekend full days. Pull a couple all nighters or sleep a couple hours in the office. Not fun at all and I hated every second of it but done it a few times (and since left that firm).
Enthusiast
OP back: this thread has been very insightful. Main takeaways on how this is possible:
- severe and enduring sleep deprivation
- extreme efficiency in time spent billing during “working” hours
- questionable billing practices
- trial
The first two are probably why this is so hard for me to understand. I can do a few days of sleep deprivation but will become nonfunctional if it happens consistently; I also need breaks during long days and can’t just keep billing the whole time.
Not advocating it but adderall solves those issues for me. I have done many 300+ hour months but couldn’t possibly imagine doing one with the help of caffein alone. Again, not a healthy answer or advice, just is what it is.
I would not be surprised if most people claiming they do the time are on it and most claiming fake time aren’t.
The secret ingredient is lying, and a lot of you are doing it.
If you’re regularly billing those kinds of numbers, you either need to seriously consider a lifestyle change or consider that the fibbing will get you disbarred and sued one day.
Two associates that can’t put two and two together and read the second paragraph “if you’re regularly billing those kinds of numbers.” See clause 1.
Classic fishbowl lawyers triggered by anything they could possibly perceive as a slight against them. I’ve put hours like this in at one firm. Realized it wasn’t the norm and left. The people still there pretend like the whole industry is like that and can’t be convinced otherwise. Most firms and practices aren’t. I’ve also run into lawyers at other calmer firms who literally lie about their hours and bill taking a dump, going to get lunch, getting on a plane, i.e. “I was thinking about the project on the way to dinner, so I billed it.” 300 hours is 10 hours a day for the entire month. One can only pretend so much. They’re either kidding themselves working at an awful firm or lying. There’s no in-between on this.
Coach
I billed 300+ twice in 2020. Was absolutely miserable. No time for anything other than work and the bare minimum sleep. I was miserable. It also happens that when I’m working a shit ton I crave garbage food and would order shit food that would make me feel worse. Luckily that is very rare
Mentor
The fact that people act like this is something to boast about is what is sick in this field.
Coach
I don’t see a lot of boasting here. None, actually, but maybe someone is in one of the subthreads.
Only time I did it was during a 2 week long trial and still just barely hit 300. It’s just an insane, unsustainable pace.
I hit 402 billables one month during the pandemic. It looked like waking up at 6:00 am, rolling over to my computer and working until I couldn't (2 am most days, 3 or 4 am or all nighters other days). Sleep-deprived fever dream, fueled by uppers. All meals delivered and eaten while working, showered maybe once a week, went nowhere, talked to no one other than coworkers. No days off. That's how. 19 hours/day, about 14 billable, 31 days straight. I ended up in the hospital with chest pain, and have since quiet quit and now coast. Wasn't worth it.
Enthusiast
Adderall, minimal sleep, and WFH (obviously)
Enthusiast
I had 330 once and I was a shell of a human but it was legit hours - avg 11 hours/day every day. Some days were 16-18 hour days, some were 4
Capital markets when market is good… timer is always on, except when you sleep. You work or think about work and what tk do and how every waking minute. You even dream about work tbh. Having said that, I had a few slightly over 300h months in my career, so it’s not really a regular occurence.
Fraud
It’s easy to hit 300+ during trial. You’re going nonstop the whole time.
Seeing all the stories here… what if I truly cannot sustain it? I don’t see myself functioning with little sleep after a few days… do I just tell the partners to ask for more time? What if they say no? Would quitting be the only option by then?
P2 - is the implication that being reliable requires to be able to sustain occasional 300+ hours? I can’t imagine someone literally pulling out the day before closing, but 300+ hour months do sound hard to sustain (and personally I think there’s a difference between just needing a night to cool off and literally pulling out before closing).
A senior associate once told me they billed a 400 hour month
Can confirm 400+ is possible. Also the worst. I looked and felt like a shell of a human. Not worth it.
Trial and expert discovery in multi-Respondent ITC cases (2 week turn around for massive rebuttal expert reports followed by 2 weeks of depos nearly every day).
Trial time
Trial