ID associate here. If a partner is making me write elaborate internal memos explaining the legal justification for everything I am doing in a case, and that time gets written off (and we are judged on our % of write offs) at what point can I say I can't do it anymore because it takes me away from actual billable work. What are my options here?

Can you share first year salary for midsize firms? I'm in NJ, but curious to hear other markets. Also billable targets? Thanks!

What is a material billable hours difference from your peers at the same group? If I bill 150 less a year than another associate should I be worried?

What’s your current billable rate and salary?

It’s hard to trust the partners/leadership when they want us to return to office as being better when we increase offshoring? Also, the pressure on billable hours when all that really matters is how much our fixed labor costs vs. how much we can bill (which is usually fixed fee or at least a range) and the fixed labor costs of offshoring is significantly cheaper so the hours don’t matter. Am I mistaken by this viewpoint?

How many billable hours per week is considered at capacity? I’m getting pushback on boundaries I’m setting about additional matters and marketing work from my firm when I’ve been billing 60-75 hours per week for the last 6 weeks, and I’m still behind on my work. I feel like it’s reasonable to not kill myself further to fit in more/turn things around faster at this point, but am I being unreasonable? I expect my workload to remain at this level through the end of the year at least.

Does anyone run a business in addition to their firm? I’m a solo and I’m doing pretty well with about 60-70 billable hours a month. Though that leaves a lot of downtime. Curious if anyone has any second businesses that require about 20 hours a week. Not looking for passive income or franchise ideas though.

My firm’s IT (especially system saving and file locating function) is so bad 😐😞 and they keep doing updates no one asked them for just to mess with the stuff we already got a hang of without doing anything about the issues we actually need fixed. Anyone else in a similar boat? Do you bill the client for the time it takes to fix the IT issue (or IT inefficiency generally, like time taken to find a file in a convoluted system)? Or is that supposed to be our non-billable time?

Is it just me or the average billable work in infrastructure transactions has blown off steam in the last couple of weeks?

Trying to explain billable hrs to hubs. I billed 160 this month, which he said “is only 40 hr weeks” (true) - but how many hrs do you figure you “work” or are in the office to bill 150?

So I was a 5th year associate in nyc making 100 k a year 2k billable hours.. I decided to leave for the role Im in now.. my old countered to keep me at 115k (which was like pulling teeth for them) but I left anyways now I find out that they offered a 7th year 150 k and a partner title should I be offended that they didn’t even try more with me

Billables are low this month. Like I have 65 billable hours in so far. I’ve messaged partners over the last week to try and get more cases but there are tons of new associates who were just onboarded and were at a low point for business. I’m freaking out

My HR rep told me that to apply for your CPA license in MA you only need 1 year of work experience, not 2009 billable hours. Didn't sound right- can anyone confirm/deny?

If you asked to be considered for early promotion and didn’t get it (despite being highly rated, exceeding billable goal, etc) would you look elsewhere? Is it right to be angry about it? I don’t want to spin myself up unnecessarily if it’s unjustified

Does anyone know the starting salary for Jackson Lewis in the firm's Connecticut office, as well as the billable hours requirement?

If you are a first year in a stub year, and significantly under billable hours requirement, do firms typically still give pro rated bonus? Do first year stub associates really ever hit their pro rated hours in those 2-3 months?

To the post below- it is quiet, so I’ll bite!
Does anyone know about associate compensation at the regional Atlantic Canada firms? The the big ones have all been posting job ads for associates in the 3-5 year range. Any insight on salary and billable targets?

Is 150 billable hours per month little/average/a lot?

I wonder if we’ll still have minimum billable hours if WWIII breaks out

Anyone else absolutely *loathe* being assigned new client matters at the end of the month when you know your billable time won’t count bc conflicts haven’t cleared yet? Just me?

Hi can someone give me an estimate of what a pediatric occupational therapist should be making in a city with a high cost of living. No benefits. Between 30 to 40 billable hours, documentation time unpaid etc. Independent contractor role. Practicing for over 5 years.

For people in consulting - do you often read books about project management and motivation? Would appreciate your recommendations (preferably the ones with more than one thought for the whole brick of text 🤨).

After ~20-30 min on a call, I stop paying attention.

Is it true that the management is planning to scrap Staff level 4 in EY GDS?

Hey Fishesh,

Looking for a referral, serving notice period and lwd is 19 oct

YOE: 11
Technology: Power Platform, SharePoint online and on premises, React, SPFx, Migration using Sharegate and Matalogix, Power-shell scripts.

Please DM me for any opportunities

Where to find the project details in talent portal?

At what point does the value of a degree fall off? I'm in my early 30s, and have five years of experience, and work on a very theoretically interesting project. I believe I'm on track to promotion in the next year. So, I could put in a year of full time school to check the box off, but I'd be sacrificing hobbies and social life (not to mention cost). Is this FOMO or is there real opportunity here?

Need like for completing profile. Thanks.

Ibegin is not accessible …seems the site is in maintenance, any one facing issue right now ?

Alright fellas, hims vs keeps?

I’m 25 and still have a good head of hair, but can see myself greying and feel like more and more hair is falling out every day. Not noticeable but have heard prevention is everything for this and am following the exact pattern my grandfather did, who had thick hair like mine and then was bald by 30.

Appreciate all you stylish folk and hope everyone has a great day.

I'm a crypto Twitter influencer, AMA

Starting us off with an important tip: Your resume is a marketing document, not an autobiography. It should include relevant jobs, responsibilities, and perhaps most importantly, achievements. Where you can quantify an accomplishment or just talk up a major project you led at work or in an internship, do so. The point is to make the hiring manager think, “Wow, I need to talk to this person! They seem like a good fit!”

hi everyone
second-year Economics student here! I want to land an internship in capital markets for next summer but it has been really hard to be seen and ensure an offer. It is already too late? Any recs? Is anyone still recruiting for next summer?

Hi everyone!! Got an offer from Healthplix, Bangalore based start up. Any thoughts on this?

Wondering if legal tech is legit or all hype

I made an offer to a candidate today. It feels really good to make that phone call and hear the other person being happy.

Question about pre-marking trial exhibits in federal court ((more below))

I'm a long time prosecutor getting into the ID game and billable hours. Are there any resources out there that can help me get more effective/efficient without spending months/years learning the hard way? Some days I'm at the office 10 hours, took virtually no breaks and yet only bill 7. 🤬

I feel like I can’t redeem my career. I’ve been out of paying work since I graduated. My bar was delayed due to a medical problem and since then I’ve only been able to find volunteering. I’ve been working for free for 2 years now. My network is tapped, my mentors are confused why I can’t find anything, my law school’s career services actually gave up on me, I don’t have the money to move to a new place, I have no other support and I can’t even go back to retail because nobody’s hiring out here.

Recruiter ghosting? My partner interviewed for a lateral position with a mid-sized firm in mid-December. Went through whole process, multiple interviews, etc. (see below)

They should really poll the associates to seed ideas for holiday party locations...

Just FYI, if you ever miss an issue in an agreement that you don’t catch until late in the deal process, don’t try to blame it on the other side to your client. You’ll get caught.

Has anyone taken  ACAMS Certified Global Sanctions Specialist (CGSS)? Any comments/ reviews? How has it enhanced your employability? Why did you take the CGSS?

I have a promising interview at a relatively large law firm in my area (+100 attorneys) next week. The position is for a transactional role in their real estate practice group, and they are seeking someone with at least 2 YOE. I have a bit over 7 YOE with a strong real estate/commercial lit. background. Over the past two years in my current position, I've been doing a lot more transactional work. The split is around 50% transactional and 50% lit.

(Continued below)

Protocol for responding (or not) to unsolicited emails from recruiters to your work email? In other words, is it acceptable to just ignore without a response? Or do you prefer to keep the line open with a brief “thanks for thinking of me, I am not interested at this time but hope we can collaborate in the future.”

I found out a soon to be 2nd year associate got a 10k raise making his salary 110k now, while I, the soon to be 3rd year associate got a 2k raise making my salary 107k. So now the 2nd year male associate is making more money than me. How do I bring this up to the partners?

Lateraled to a new firm a year ago and struggling so much because I’m NOT being micromanaged. (Biglaw -> Small law, toxic culture -> great culture) Advice

Any tips to help stay focused? WFH has been difficult for me because it’s so hard to focus (harder than it is at the office). I know I’m so lucky to still have my job & work coming in, so I feel bad.

Is there an appropriate way to turn down an assignment because it is non-billable? Two of the partners I work for keep asking me to write client bulletins and articles with them, which is great, but now I’m starting to worry about meeting my billable hours requirement.

I know that the general advice is not to cut your own time, but if you think you took WAY TOO LONG on something should you? I don’t want partners to think of me as inefficient.

I’m a first year who just started this week. I’m about to turn in my first memo. We’re working from home so it’ll be over email. Maybe I’m over thinking it (I definitely am lol) but what should I say in the email!?

Can I waive into other UBE jurisdictions using my NY UBE license at any time? Or is there an expiration date for my bar exam score, after which point I won't be able to waive in?

Why did you decide to leave your first firm job? If you had a chance to jump ship but stayed, why did you stay?

Is end-of-year bonus season a lost cause at this point? (In a firm with no layoffs or pay cuts yet).