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Rising Star
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Nope, do not cut it. A partner once told me they review billables as a measure of improvement as well. For example, if I spent 6 hours on demurrers when I joined the firm, and then eventually 5 and now I get them done in 4, it shows I’ve become more efficient over time. If I immediately cut my time from the get to in order to look like I completed the work in the amount of time I thought it should take, the partners won’t know I’m improving.
& to add to this, if you feel insecure about how much time you spent on this assignment, I would email the partner and give them a heads up as to how long it took.
Rising Star
See if you can review past billables for similar work, and discount appropriately.
Why did it take you way too long? And do you think it would have taken someone else in your position substantially less time?
As a junior associate, I would still try to reach out to the senior associate or partner when it seemed like I was going over. As a senior associate, I will sometimes discount my time on my own if I do something stupid that resulted in my taking too long, but I'll still let the partner know as I'm working when it starts to seem like it's going to take an unexpectedly long time.
I have sometimes put in two entries(like if I had massive technical difficulties doing something and had to do it twice) I will enter one nice clean entry suitable for billing and a second entry noted for non-billable about whatever disaster I was dealing with. That way I have my time down, but it’s hopefully at least easier for attorney to bill/write off the time as they see fit.
Rising Star
I always bill 100% of my time, but sometimes I’ll provide an explanation if I feel that it’s particularly egregious (“this is my first xyz agreement, so I spent extra time making sure I understood all of the terms I wasn’t familiar with”). I’ve never had a problem and I have been affirmatively told to keep billing it all and let the partners worry about it.
Rising Star
I should clarify - I provide the explanation when turning the assignment in, not in the time entry!
As a serial time cutter who is seriously trying to knock the habit, I would advise you not to get into the habit of it. It has been listed as a “room for improvement” item in my annual reviews. Depending on the firm and the technology, the firm can easily detect time cutting.
I’m been told on multiple occasions that if I actually took too much time, the firm will write it down, or show the amount of time spent and not bill it. Even if you are inefficient, it is okay— that’s how you learn. Don’t discount your hard work, especially if you are not in the position to truly know whether you spent way too long on something.
If you are concerned about a particular project, reach out to colleagues to discuss. However, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
Don’t cut your time. Recently I was told that a research project should take 2-4 hours, but it took me closer to 8 hours! I sat there feeling mad at myself, but then I broke down by bullet points everything I did in those 8 hours, and I reached the conclusion that neither I, nor my boss, could’ve done it any faster. So then I billed my 8 hours, and even emailed my boss with a heads up of how long it took me and all those bullet points of what I did. He wasn’t upset or disappointed.