Ever stare at a case file for an hour, know you read everything, but have zero clue what you just absorbed? That guilt of wasted billable time is the worst. Anyone find ways to stay present?

Curious to know what other firm's bonus structures are, particularly those with billable requirements of 1900 and below. Trying to understand what the norm is and figure out if associates at my firm are getting screwed. thanks

Weber folks! At what point do you become eligible for a yearly bonus and how is your bonus determined? Any tie to billable hours?

Can you get fired for having low utilization as a senior? My billable hours this busy season have been much lower than my peers.

Highest number of billable hours you have seen in a year?

How many billable hours in a month does it take for you to think you are billing a lot?

Had 2 hours of billable work today 💀

Explain to me like I’m 5. Why does the monthly billable hours goal on things like Intellistat change month to month. I’m not hitting hours this year. Last month goal was 158. This months goal is 180.

If you are a first year in a stub year, and significantly under billable hours requirement, do firms typically still give pro rated bonus? Do first year stub associates really ever hit their pro rated hours in those 2-3 months?

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.

How many billable hours per week is considered at capacity? I’m getting pushback on boundaries I’m setting about additional matters and marketing work from my firm when I’ve been billing 60-75 hours per week for the last 6 weeks, and I’m still behind on my work. I feel like it’s reasonable to not kill myself further to fit in more/turn things around faster at this point, but am I being unreasonable? I expect my workload to remain at this level through the end of the year at least.

What’s the deal with RFPs? I’ve spent countless [non-billable] hours on several of them only to find out that I’m not included in the actual proposal (the document sent to the client showcasing the proposed case team). Is this normal?

Have any of you taken "low bono" clients while working at a firm? I want to take on a low bono client or two but not sure who would get the money. This is a contract opportunity through a non profit so I'm assuming a 1099 will be issued. The per hour rate is significantly less than my billable rate. I would (obviously) like the money but my real objective is just getting experience/networking since I recently moved to a new state and don't have clients of my own.

3.5 years out of school, 2400 billable hours last year in TRS and just got promoted. what kind of year end compensation should I be expecting? Bonus and new salary

What is a material billable hours difference from your peers at the same group? If I bill 150 less a year than another associate should I be worried?

Went from a big firm to work for a smaller firm. The people in the smaller firm are protective of their work and are good by their work too. I no longer feel chaos or stress. I am treated with respect and my schedule is more normal. I am even working more billable hours than before, but it feels like a seamless experience. I don’t work then past 5pm or anything out of the ordinary for this time of the year. I am so grateful!

Anyone else absolutely *loathe* being assigned new client matters at the end of the month when you know your billable time won’t count bc conflicts haven’t cleared yet? Just me?

I’ve practiced litigation in DC for about 5+ years at a larger plaintiffs’ firm, and am considering a switch to a defense firm. Is there any insight to how many billable hours this would require, and how much time that would actually be? For reference, the firm has a 1900 billable hour requirement and the partner said I would have “no problem” fulfilling that based on the work they have.

I heard so much about minimum billable hours here by staff. I never saw that email. Is it inly for certain groups?

Doing a federal clerkship and thinking of my options after. Anyone in NJ/NY/PA biglaw lit group with collegial and pleasant work environment? I do not care about billable requirements/workload, just salary and don’t want to be treated like shit.

Anyone else here have terrible utilization because their deals die and a code never opens? /can’t find another code to book hours? I’m sitting on over 200 billable hours at this point

Welcome to the bowl, Please keep your posts focused towards Mastercard and tone as positive as possible.

Cheers 🍻

Are there any consulting firms with roles that require 20% travel or less?

Started vyvance. I’m eating a lot, super hydrated, no caffeine and I still feel super weird. I’m calm and my brain feels great but physically my eyes are soo dry and my body just feels disassociated. It’s only been three days. Does this pass?

If you were to lateral in the next month or so is it standard for the new firm to guarantee your full year end bonus given where we are in the year?

I got offer from Capgemini and joining location is Bangalore. Will they allow me to transfer my offer to Chennai.

Went from a big firm to work for a smaller firm. The people in the smaller firm are protective of their work and are good by their work too. I no longer feel chaos or stress. I am treated with respect and my schedule is more normal. I am even working more billable hours than before, but it feels like a seamless experience. I don’t work then past 5pm or anything out of the ordinary for this time of the year. I am so grateful!

How much are y’all spending on your videographer and what all are they providing?

Does anyone deal with (suspected or diagnosed) comorbid anxiety and/or depression? How did you broach the conversation with your psych?

I've been always eating tons of sugar growing up and I've finally decided to stop eating heavily processed food/sweets a month ago. Turns out I was really addicted without realizing it and I truly experienced mental and physical symptoms during the last few weeks (cravings, fatigue, dizziness, etc.), but feeling better every day. Anyone experienced anything similar? I don't smoke and don't even drink coffee (yep, no caffeine at all) so I never realized how dependent on something I was.

Hello friend,

Any one abscond the notice period in EY.


I Just join - 3 month.

Any one can help me for same what get happened if I do same.

Thanks for you advise

Question on sponsoring my sibling - If my Parents are US citizen and they sponsor for my sister who is married and age of 35. How long it can take for her to get green card?

Buddy , how to apply for h1b from india is it possible i heard some consultancy does that

How much salary can i expect as 10 yrs exp. Tech stack dynamics crm

Any houston folks here?

Congrats to W+K on winning Visa creative strategy (thanks AdWeek for the news 👀)! I saw they are leading the account out of PDX office. Anyone in the know if they’ll be hiring not just for the new win but in general?

I'm starting to believe my caffeine addiction is affecting me. After an hour of working today, my hand started shaking!

When does pwc ac payout bonuses and any expectations on this year's bonus?

Started vyvance. I’m eating a lot, super hydrated, no caffeine and I still feel super weird. I’m calm and my brain feels great but physically my eyes are soo dry and my body just feels disassociated. It’s only been three days. Does this pass?

After 4 years I want to leave law because of my adhd! I have been to 4 different firms and at each place I feel like I have been “found out”. At every place at least one attorney catches me about my attention to detail. I am so down on myself now. I can’t bring myself to care about small details that I know don’t actually matter. Sitting at a desk all day in word documents is the ultimate form of torture to me. My strengths are talking to people. I am super outgoing. Looking for a new career

Monthly rant thread. Lots of firms with a fiscal year close of Oct 1, everyone racing to the finish line with billables.

Tell us about your hopes, your dreams, your struggles, your insecurities and what made you laugh lately.

Has anyone used an ADHD /executive functioning coach? I’ve been on meds since I was 13, but am struggling more than I think I should be with basic things. Some of my poor habits have definitely caught up with me. Any recommendations would be much appreciated.

I’m switching to Strattera (from Adderal XR) after some stories shared in this bowl, and some family members who have been really happy with it.

On my first full dose today and man the nausea is real. Understanding now why my doctor told me to split the dose into different parts of the day. Should have listened. 😅

What’s the best advice/strategy you’ve adopted for lawyering with ADHD?

Lately been wondering if my meds are even working anymore… had to skip today’s dose (long story not worth telling) and, yeah, can now confirm my meds are working.

How do you manage keeping track of and responding to teams chats and emails in a timely manner? I have a hard time addressing chats when I am focused on something else, because I know it will completely derail me. But then I forgot to circle back to the chat when I’m done and I’ve recently been told that my response time is unacceptable and needs to improve, but I’m truly unsure how to improve.

Has anyone figured out OneNote? I’m trying to get organized...again.

What tricks do you guys have to keep you focused for bursts of time? I feel like as soon as I start something, I go back and forth between it and whatever else pops into my mind. Any suggestions are welcomed.

There’s been some posts on the best planning tools (e.g. planners, calendars, etc.), but my question is how do ppl make sure they use them? I get them and am excited about the possibility of them helping for about a week then I just stop using it. Even if I find it helpful I just never stay consistent with it. Does this happen to others? Any tricks or suggestions to stay consistent using planners, to do lists, calendars, etc.

Can we pin a post with recommendations for professionals and therapists that you can trust in your geographic location? If so, I’ll start in the comments with my recommendation.

Anyone on straterra? Starting week 4 on it and have not noticed much, but I have zero appreciate and have food aversions. Would be interested to know how people deal with this / if it actually helped? I know it takes some time to see the effects,

I started Adderall and have been drinking a ton of water, over 120oz a day. My throat feels thick, not like an alrgic reaction almost like a strep throat feeling and my ears are popping. This started when I started my douse, anyone experience this or am I just sick

How do you deal with making mistakes at work? I’ve been doing good work lately but there’s one partner who thinks I’m mistake prone and I just made a mistake on something he asked me to do, but I corrected it quickly. However, there is public record of my mistake.

What are your strategies for completing work efficiently? How do you figure out how long projects should take? A consistent piece of feedback on my yearly reviews has been that I over-bill & spend too much time on assignments. It’s something I actively work on, but I still have no concrete sense of how long I should spend on basic tasks (e.g., drafting a motion to dismiss). My firm is right to expect that I manage my time better as a mid-level associate. WFH has made my time management worse.

I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and just started medication treatment, and I didn’t realize something was missing this entire time. My brain finally feels so calm!!

Studying for the bar, and my first 2 years of practice exacerbated my symptoms so badly. I couldn’t keep up with the long hours at work! I feel like I have a fighting chance now!

My firm recently switched to a time keeping system that monitors everything you do on your computer. I have ADHD and often google random things (I.e. scores of games; actors in movies/shows; news articles; etc.) has anyone had a problem with AI monitoring and/or management getting on you?

Wondering if I should look into anxiety meds (or if I’m just a baby and need to get used to this life).

Have you tried any? Did it help? Affect your productivity? Which ones? tya!

Can anyone offer advice for helping with adderall side effects? I was diagnosed a few months ago and I am new to medication. I have been taking 20 mg xr in the morning but have a terrible crash around 2/3pm each day where I just get very very tired. Doctor recommended 10mg ir mid day to combat but I still experience pretty severe fatigue as a side effect. Just wondering if anyone has found any natural strategies to cope or mitigate. Thanks!