Related Posts
More Posts
Enthusiast
What do you hate about trump? Wrong answers only
Robinhood vs Webull?
Dolla dolla billz yo
When will the salary be credited in Optum.
Bowl Leader
Additional Posts in Big Law
Enthusiast
Mentor
Mentor
Coach
Coach
Will Feb bar exams be converted to online?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Geez, where do you work? And get out now.
It's virtually impossible to bill 3000+ without lying. It's also virtually impossible to get fired while billing 2600.
Subject Expert
You “raise concerns” by lateraling.
Leave that firm.
Mentor
If all mid levels are on pace for 3000+, no one will care about or be sympathetic to your concerns about being on pace for 2600 and raising the issue will just have negative political consequences for you. Your only option really is to just get out. It would be different if everyone else was at 2000, but this is clearly an environment/culture problem that you’re at the mercy of.
You are a junior and you want to raise a concern about hours. What is your concern, that you are lagging behind the rest of the team and need more work?
If you don’t like it leave.
lol
Coach
Is this intensity specific to your group or the whole firm? Is it due to some temporary thing going on or is this expected to continue for the rest of the year? Those facts are important for us to provide an answer
Coach
These numbers aren’t too high for very specific firms. If this is Wachtell, “that’s what the money’s for.” If this is Cravath, that’s the name of the game and you should plan to lateral because you’re being paid in prestige (but getting good training, to be slightly fair). If this is Susman or Quinn (seems like a litigation focused firm from what you’re saying), also kind of standard. So consider lateraling if you want better hours.
I think the reality anywhere is that if everyone else is on track for 3000, you won’t get sympathy or action trying to help you out at 2600. So best you can do is take stock of whether you want to keep working there (e.g., if the $$$ is well above market, either now or in the long term).
Never compare to others when talking to partners or evaluating your own capacity.
If you are a 1st or 2nd year-- you might need to just ride it out. If third year plus, talk to a partner about how you don't think you are able to manage XYZ projects all at the same time and meet the needs of the client and project.
I would lateral ASAP (start trying when you're at the one-year market if you're a junior, any earlier will raise red flags), especially if you don't want to be billing 3000 hours/month when you get ramped up. AFTER you receive offers, schedule calls with the mid-level associates you'd be working with and ask them point blank what they billed last year and the year before, and what a typical month looks like. You can lead with the fact that mid-levels at your firm are annualizing 3000 and you're trying to get an idea of how different this new firm will be. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to work that much.