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10/22 Thread (BC):
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You should be up front with the partners in your group. Let them know that you have extra capacity and want to get your hours up. If they still tell you not to worry, then don't worry, but do accept that you likely won't get a bonus this year. If you care about the bonus and your eligibility, make that clear to the partners.
Enthusiast
Legit don’t worry about hours. All it will give you is anxiety. If it’s a problem, someone will tell you. Until that happens, focus on taking care of yourself and getting your work done and don’t worry about what may or may not materialize.
This. As long as you are asking for work, and putting out the best product you can, you cannot be blamed for whatever hours you bill. So just keep checking in with your supervisors. If you’re really worried about it then ask them if you can reach out to a different practice group for project to fill in time.
Mentor
not at all. I think I hit ~800 client billable hours in my first year. Missed bonus, no surprise there, but I’m in my 6th year at the same firm and I am on track.
@OP, I think A1's model could work for you too. I think the point is to add value in other ways (nonbillable, Pro bono etc) and make sure you are impressing the right folks (partners) at your firm.
Believe me, I'm learning this the hard way.
Honestly I disagree with A1, if you’re at a firm with an hours requirement and you care about that, you should work more. 1500 billable hours is incredibly low, I had almost 2500 my first year at a firm with no minimum requirement. Definitely not saying you should work that much, I’m an overachiever, but if you’re not getting enough work to even get 2000 I would be concerned that you’re at a firm that doesn’t give juniors any substantive work…
To be fair, yes, while 1,500 is easily profitable in terms of numbers, there also still needs to be enough profit to keep the rainmakers happy and prevent them from taking "their" clients elsewhere. Not saying I endorse this system, but it's the way it is, I guess. We tend to value "job creation" (lols) over labor.
Mentor
No.
Mentor
OP asked whether to be concerned.
I’m on track for 1300. I’m probably on the low end but no one mentioned hours in my review 🤷🏻♂️ no hours requirement too which is nice
I’m in a similar position. 1st year specialist, low hours good relationships with partners. Do good work and we’ll be fine. Enjoying it while it lasts.
Subject Expert
Are you regularly asking for work (like 1-2x a week)? If not, regularly ask for work. Ask mid level and senior associates too, not just partners.
If you’re not hitting hours despite asking for work regularly that’s the firms problem and I wouldn’t be too worried as a first year. But they’re not regularly monitoring your hours, the expectation is generally associates manage that on their own, and firms do not appreciate if you’re intentionally flying under the radar with low hours and not regularly raising your hand to say you have capacity and would love to help with anything.
They 100% know your projected hours. They are partners and have visibility into all of that.
Subject Expert
They have the data available to them for sure. But at least at my firm partners are super busy and not checking associate hours except when they’re trying to staff someone, if then. So partners might be like “ok I want a third year on this” and go ask their favorite third year even if already overworked and never actually realize that OP has tons of capacity unless OP regularly asks for work. Especially if OP is a first year where more training is required since partners first instinct isn’t going to be to staff a first year.
If there’s a staffing administrator or partner might be someone’s job to check on associate hours but not every firm has this.