How do most firms handle billable hour goals & PTO? I haven’t taken any pto all year and I would like to but I’m realizing for any pto I use I would need to make up hours to make sure I still hit my monthly goal.

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This is why lawyers at these law firms never vacation. You have to subtract all those days first before you set monthly targets for the year. For instance I want to take two weeks vacation /personal/holiday during the year. I don't think that's too much to ask. But I also have to take what would be "PTO" elsewhere and I have to add that. So I end up trying to bill the annual amount in 11 months, not 12, and that's not so sustainable. Forever tryna play catchup

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This is how firm does it. You have to plan to work longer days so that you can make your monthly goals.

That’s kinda about it, really - plan ahead and you can take as much PTO as you want, knowing you’ll need to work an extra bit for a few weeks here and there. Note that not many firms are super concerned about individual months but rather they look at the yearly picture - if you’re still hitting your 2000 hours, no one will bat an eye if you took 15 days PTO.

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What does 2000 billable hours look like? I’m about to start at a firm and that’s the requirement.

Welcome to big law!

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Yeah, you just have to plan ahead. Whatever you calculate you need to bill each month, add 10-20 hours depending on how much vacation you want to take that year. If you stay ahead on your hours, you’ll be able to go to your friends wedding or take a week off without worrying about losing your bonus.

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