I work primarily with an equity partner and counsel in an M&A practice servicing existing clients. It’s been slower than usual. Both of them tag team and keep mentioning I should get my hours up when neither of them bring in any business. Just searched iManage and found the firm billable hours reports. Turns out my hours each month are far exceeding both of theirs! Prolly wasn’t supposed to see the firm hour reports but wondering if I should push back. I don’t find their remarks well-intended.

likehelpful
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Their deals are different than yours. The hours expectations are different. Apples and oranges. Compare yourself to other associates, not partners and of counsels.

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Yeah. I feel they spend more time politicking rather than trying to build a book.

Yeah this is the danger of working with service partners or people who are still building their books. They’re telling you that bc they don’t have the political heft to protect you if they can’t feed you. I would focus on finding partners with better books to work for even if you have to lateral.

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100% it was a big part of why i left biglaw, lawyers with the biggest books do not make the best managers, and they have every economic incentive to burn you out. I wouldn’t be too down on them - they want you to do well too. That’s why they are telling you to get hours elsewhere. They are just trying to survive in biglaw as service partners and that’s not easy.

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It sounds like they are encouraging you to seek out other sources of work because they don't have enough to keep you busy.

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Unfortunately, that's not uncommon. I learned to just keep my mouth shut and avoid talking about other work I might be doing. Partners can get very territorial, but at the end of the day, you have to look out for your own career. Being diversified is always better.

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Hope you previewed that report 👀

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Yes. I’m shocked. They’re not even hitting 100 hours/month.

What year are you? You might not realize all the non-billable admin work that get thrown at you as you get more senior (e.g. bus dev, firm committees, etc.). You might be doing actual billable work but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not working either

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I’m a second year, so the fact a junior is being put in this situation is disgusting.

Maybe they’re out doing business development to try to get you some more work and that’s why their hours are low? Can you work with another partner to get some more work? And maybe they’re trying to help you… or perhaps they are worried because there’s something going on behind the scenes you’re unaware of like layoff talk and they’re trying to give you a hint so you can either find work or find a new gig at the new year. I’m not there unlike you so I don’t know their tone but it’s something to at least consider

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Good point! If they’re on the road trying to bring in business, I’m definitely not aware of it. They may have worked hard in years past but now they’re lazy. They talk a lot more about work than actually doing any.

Might also be they’re not writing down their time to help manage a bill - lot of fee pressure out there.

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Yeah people definitely end up in a death spiral in biglaw where they give away their time to get better matters that never materialize

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Monthly hours reports re on imagine? Hmmm

Some firms will store hours using [last name], [first name] or some combo of that with a middle initial. So don’t search by just putting your name in quotes.

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