How much nonbillable time is too much? I’m a second associate at a midsized firm and I have 30-50 non billable hours each month. An associate at another firm told me this was really high. Thoughts?

Is my agency the only one that continues to invest untold billable hours tweaking and refining our Keynote template well after the point of diminishing returns was crossed?

What’s the best way to turn down a 2nd interview? During the 1st interview, I learned that the compensation for the role is not within the range that I am looking for and requires 400 more billable hours a year than what I bill now. I’d basically be laterally for my current salary just to bill 400 more hours. I also wasn’t aware that the local office was strictly ID. Firm website advertises lots of practice areas. Any advice? TIA!

I work for a boutique firm in a large west coast city. No clue what it costs or means if I’d make partner. How does the process usually work? I’m currently a senior associate. Been here a bit more than a year. Not sure if I want to stay and grind the billable hours or try to move to in-house or government law in the same industry.

What does it mean when a firm doesnt have a required number of billable hours but has an expected target? Isnt it essentially the same thing…?

I’ve worked the last nine years for my state legislature as an attorney analyst, drafting and analyzing proposed legislation. I’ve primarily worked on health professional regulations. Next year, I will apply for student loans forgiveness under the public service program and would like a change. I know others who have gone into lobbying/government relations, but I would like to find other options to pursue. I’ve never done billable work so not sure if law firm life is for me. Any suggestions?

Hello, I’ve been doing litigation for 6 years. I truly hate it and I’m wondering how difficult it would be to transfer to a different type of law (possibly at the same firm)? What is the least stressful paralegal role? Or what other types of jobs can I get to avoid billable hours and over the top stress? Help please, I need a more sustainable job that I actually like. Litigation is too chaotic for my personality.

How do your firms compensate rainmakers/ marketing partners? Low billable hours and large bonuses based on the business generated?

For anyone debating whether to go in house, I recently went in house, and the mental health benefit of not having to worry about billable hours is completely worth the switch. It's great not having to worry about catching up on hours when I'm out for a doctor's appointment, vacation, etc. It's more of a mental health relief than I guessed it would be.

Deloitte & BAH compete for the same work, and have overlapping or similar pay for similar backgrounds.

Yet the workload at D is higher, due partly to 'firm initiatives' - D is less efficient (more work to get similar result).

Ergo, firm initiatives are often not productive; also, D benches rather than furloughs people without billable work, and hires people to the bench (vs client). Granted, D does have more mobility laterally & vertically.

Is any of this wrong?

Any thoughts on Maron Marval? Specifically their Texas office regarding workload, salary range and 1950 billable hours?

Salary survey:

Base:
Years:
Number of attorneys:
Yearly billable requirements:
Bonus:

As a new hire, what’s the better approach? Go around looking (begging) for billable hours or sit tight at my desk for 8 hours a day and study for the CPA exam?

Anyone know or have speculations as to the hourly billable rate for Media Law partners at Davis Wright Tremaine?

What is it like to work as a real estate lawyer? I’ve done 4 years of plaintiffs personal injury, I’d like to try something new. Don’t want billable hours. Any thoughts? (Also other types of law suggestions are welcome)

I’m back to having no billable work again. My department almost completely dried up when covid started, so I’ve been relying on work from other busy departments at my firm to keep me busy since March. I feel like I start a new job every couple of weeks and am constantly begging for work. I’m just exhausted. Can anyone else relate?

How do you get billable work? Are you constantly knocking on doors & hunting it down? Or are assignments generally given to you? Do you ever have periods of being unable to find any?

Time to admit that I hate billable hours because some days I just want to do a bare minimum four hours of work without having to make it up later and not for any high minded ideological reasons.

Does anyone have insight into A&M WLB, comp, benefits, etc they are willing to share? At a high level I get that the bonus is a portion of billable hours*bill rate* collection %, but any additional insight is greatly appreciated! Interviewing for a manager position in PEPI

Help me think through this decision please.

Gov attorney, 8 years out of law school and will make over $100k for the first time this year. Gov benefits are great and WLB is amazing (I have a wife and child). We are less than 2 hours from all of our collective family now. I have an offer with a small firm I am highly interested in. $165k base + bonus for only 1800 billable hours, but it is 8+ hours from our families. $90k in student loan debt left. Am I wrong for wanting to take the money?

Weird but serious question. How do you deal with bathroom breaks and billable hours? I try hard to stay hydrated because it helps me focus and is obviously good for me, but then I feel like I’m having to pee every 30 minutes, which ends up being disruptive to my work. Any insight or tips on how this works would be great. 😅

Who else successfully got rid of the pandemic belly 😂 ? Just curious 🥴

Thoughts of Boston University’s MS Applied Data Analytics, curriculum and placement?

Please advise,
Which company should I select, wlb and long term growth
KPMG GS - 14LPA fixed+ 20% variable
EY INDIA - 12 LPA fixed + 20% variable
NatWest - 18 LPA fixed

Thanks

Hi all, Can anyone please refer me for any open roles in ETL testing.
YOE- 7.5 years
Currently serving NP
Preferred working mode: WFH.

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone, can someone please help me with preparing for a case study for BA role in Eli Lilly? Any references or topics to cover would be very helpful!

I just had beer. Ask anything your bhai will answer.

Which companies lowball the most?

I was suppose to "roll off" in December of 2015, then it was February 2016, now it's May 2016 but manager just said June 2016 is more realistic. Does it ever end?!?

What is accenture onboarding process?

Hello, can anybody tell what is the maternity cover (Amount of insurance limit) at Deloitte USI? Also, how many days one can get paternal leave.

CFA candidates postponed due to Corona - reregistering for Dec 2020 or waiting for Jun 2021?

Can someone please guide for skills round 1 and 2 in Accenture strategy for consulting

I am a buy side high yield analyst but I am thinking about moving to a distressed debt fund or hedge fund. I never did a banking stint, how can I lateral?

Does Amazon look good on a resume? More specifically Amazon Prime Studios.
I feel like if I’m even asking this question I may be answering it myself…

Considering getting my license and starting off as a real estate agent. I've always loved real estate, house flipping, interior design. What can I expect as income and time commitment as a brand new agent with no book of business? How hard is it to get established and become well known in my area? I'm in the Bay Area. Anything else I should know before I quit my job and persue this dream?

Good time to enter market? Looking to buy index funds and some mutual funds but heard that too much money is flowing into index funds. Is the market expected to come down another 1000 points?

Happy Resurrection Sunday. I have RA & Fibromyalgia. It’s really hard balancing working from home & a family (married w/ 3 kids). I’m having issues with flares. I feel as though it is affecting my relationship with my family more than it is affecting my work. The reason I took a stay at home position was because I wanted to spend more time with my family and because of my health issues. I want to find that balance even though I have auto immune diseases. Anybody else having this issue/problem?

Hi Fish, today I was presented an opportunity to work as the primary point of contact for a public company doing commercial transactional work (mostly spillover and work that their in-house team may not want). It would represent 25% of my monthly billables. Is this what people refer to as a secondment? Is this arrangement desirable? Does it increase my marketability to lateral to a larger firm? Currently, at a smaller firm.

I don't think prosecutors should get peremptory strikes. They should only be allowed to strike for cause.

Does your firm make allowances to billable hours for PTO/sick leave? Every firm I’ve been to has been “billing 9-12 hours a day until you make up the deficit.” That shit ain’t right, but curious if others have a different experience.

Suggestions for wireless headphones? I was gifted AirPods Pro for Christmas and I really liked using them for phone calls at work and blocking office noises for focusing. I rarely used them to listen to music. They died and were returned to Costco. Now I’m looking for new wireless earbuds with noise cancelation and good for taking calls. Also would like good battery life. Music quality is not as high of a priority.

Love my practice are in every way but really lacking motivation right now. That is all.

For exhibits to motions/responses in federal court, do law clerks prefer (1) citations to doc numbers or (2) attach exhibits to motion, even if the docs have already been filed with the court.

How should associates handle getting criticized by a partner for spending too much time on something? Specifically, if I’m given work that a partner knows I have little/no experience with, and I spend the time trying to learn it, should I try to defend that when the partner says I billed too much and asks why? Do people not bill for that kind of thing/are we not supposed to bill for all of our time? I’m always so confused..

When looking to change firms, is it appropriate to use several recruiters? I have a good search firm I’ve started with but I’m considering working with others as well. How will firms view it if they receive multiple inquiries from different recruiters? Also, what about apps like networked?

My assistant is a nice person who has worked worth me for about 1.5 years. I have a solo family law practice, and she excels at dealing with clients, which is great. Unfortunately, her attention to detail sucks and it is making me crazy. For example, I told her to find the order entered that required OV to comply with discovery within x number of days. She comes in my office and tells me no such order was entered. It takes me about 3 minutes to find the order, which was about 2 orders (cont)

Any thoughts on the direction of the housing market (SF / Bay Area)? Trying to decide whether right now is a good time to buy

OK. 22 months into WFH, and I'm finally accepting that it's time to be a grownup. At least, on video calls.

Dollar-for-dollar, what are the best camera, lighting, mic options? I'm not trying to look/sound best-in-class, just not like a total amateur that DGAF.

Pfizer is 80% effective after the first dose and 90% effective after the second dose, according to a new real world study. Most ill effects are from the second shot. So I’d prefer not to take the second shot. Am I wrong?

When lateraling to another defense firm, is it necessary to show billable hours at current firm?

Anyone else work in ID/litigation with high billable targets, plus a working spouse and young children? Any time management tips and examples? Been doing this over a year now and feeling like it may not be sustainable if I actually want to spend time with my family and not choose between that or sleep. Seems like burnout is setting in.

Anyone else still getting emails from their old boss 6 months after leaving the job asking for info/strategies/impressions on files they worked on? I left detailed file notes on every case I worked on before I left and had multiple debriefs.

Besides for county and local bar associations, are there any good networking groups for big law associates?

Spent all afternoon flipping through Zillow while crying and eating potato chips

Culture question. I’ve always been environment where you get your work done, bill your hours, you’re good. This new job is focused on hours in the office. Is this normal? More in comments