How many hours do I need to work/bill a day to reach 170 billable hours a month?

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Jeez I know lawyers are stereotypically bad at math but come on…4 weeks of 5 work days = 20 work days. 170/20 = 8.5. So 8.5 billable if you only work mon - Friday each week. How much actual work that translates to is dependent on how efficient your billing is and the flow of work.

likefunnysmart

CEO 1, yea that’s exactly what the last sentence of the answer says

Depends on industry and how cost-conscious your clients are. I’ve done some asbestos litigation and have represented big hospitals and we rarely ever get criticized for billing all of the time a task actually takes. When I did insurance defense it could easily be 10 hours of work for 8 hours billed because so many things were considered non-billable and certain tasks were strictly capped at X hours even if it took much longer. If you don’t have enough support staff you will wind up doing some secretarial work and won’t be able to bill for that. You’re not a robot and you’re going to lose some time regardless of industry, and crafting billing entries can be really time-consuming (especially when you can’t block bill). 170 billable hours is A LOT if you’re not the kind of person who prioritizes work above all else and “lives to work” as opposed to “working to live”. You never get real vacation days or even sick days because you just have to make up for it somewhere else. Same is true of holidays. If you are allowed to bill travel time (and frequently have to travel) and are taking depos and doing trial it is a lot easier to meet that 170 requirement. If you are mostly just writing and researching it’s really hard. The good news is many firms will not fire you if you fail to meet your quota, but some will, and there isn’t a way to really know.

My best tip is if you can see other attorneys’ entries in the system pay attention to how they bill things and how much they bill and if you are working on the same matter you can even use their entries as a reference.

likehelpful
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Not including weekends, you need to average 8.5 billed hours per day, which like means you likely need to be working around 10-12 hours a day.

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I can understand this unfortunately. I hope to eventually figure out how to be more efficient but it's true, I do a lot of non-billable work. Generally I can't charge for internal discussions with colleagues about cases, or instructions to others at the firm or for fixing up notes after a meeting or court and formatting, reviewing or catching up on a case I've been handed to from another and I spend time being descriptive in my docketing for billing. (In litigation)

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100 hours a week and 70 the next 3 weeks

likefunny

Hi, fellow corporate attorney!

likefunny

Some days I get 8 in 8. Like when I bill two 2-4 matters tops. Some days I get 8 in 12. Like when I bill to 5+ matters. I have more than enough work but the start and stop, switching gears, moving between projects slows me down. I also need breaks to refresh / can't work a straight 8 hours.

likesmart

You don’t have a calculator on your phone?

likefunny

A lot of snarky and useless responses to a very valid question. The answer really is that it depends on a multitude of factors such as the type of work (ie: litigatiom v transactionsl), whether yiur firm allows you to bill for tasks that could be completed by a law clerk or legal secretary, but that you end up doing yourself for various reasons, whether there are multiple attorneys working on the same matter which is common where younger associates are working/learning in tandem with senior associates or partners. and whether partners in your firm reduce your final time on a particular matter because he/she feels it took longer for you to do because you are not experienced. It is not a simple marhemarucal calculation. The simplest answer for a newer attorney is you will know after doing it for a while. It is trial and error and new associates are not going to be as efficient ar billing as senior associates so most firms take this into consideration. You will find your groove and become more efficient over time.

likesmart

Training doesn’t have to be billable. The firm should see an associate as an investment and be okay with the fact that an associate who still needs training will bill less hours. I

Minimum 10 hours of work per day, unless you work weekends.

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Assuming you start at 8 am, 10 hours of work leave you at 6pm, meaning you got 6 extra hours to finish the day at midnight. So technically it’s feasible. Just a matter of organisation.

How do you all manage to stay on track and bill, without giving into distractions?

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The sooner I get my work done the sooner I can get tf out of the office !!!

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How many hours do I need to work per day to bill 8 hours every day?

funny

ITT corporate and insurance defense wondering how some people can't possibly work 9 hours and bill 9 hours 🙄

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Agreed

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