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Ya, I guess there’s the factor of cutting your own time… and then the factor of the work just being more mentally draining. Patent pros doesn’t belong in biglaw imo. Patent lit is way easier (or other fields)
Who is offering up the numbers? Unless they’ve worked both sides I wouldn’t put any stock in it. I’ve never worked pros myself so I have no idea.
1600 to 2000 sounds right to me. But it depends on how much the firm charges for office actions and non-provisionals. I’ve seen big firms charge between $4k and $6k for OAs and between $10k and $20k for NPs. Higher the price, the less associates have to write off their own hours…
I work with the lower end of budgets but I'm pretty efficient. My firm is really great about asking us to enter all time actually worked and not getting mad if we are over but even then I know I still subconsciously round down/underestimate if my timer isn't on or something. And I'm exhausted after spending 4-6 hours on a tough office action which means I might take a longer break before starting the next task. Patent pros is a grind even at the nicest of firms.
I've done both. As far as comparable stress, I'd say 1750 to 2000, maybe, but I did pros for a firm that was willing to charge a little more. I noticed in pros a 200 hour month was absolute hell, but in lit, it's just busy.
I have billed a couple of 175 months and was pretty exhausted, but probably could have fit in a bit more if necessary. 200 sounds like where my breaking point would be. Meanwhile during a similar month my friend at Cravath doing litigation (not patents) had billed 240. I was like...how the heck???