Related Posts
Had 2 hours of billable work today 💀
More Posts
"She's like 30, but doesn't look super old"
Conversation Starter
Conversation Starter
just got let go, send some good vibes
Do es the firm shut down for a week during xmas？
Additional Posts in Law
Pro
Do any of the big L&E firms have a WFH policy?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Document the instruction and the time you self-edited.
Do not stress about it unless it becomes an issue requiring explanation.
If during your review your hours are low and it comes up, this is when you bring it up.
Rising Star
Speak with your office managing partner.
Rising Star
I would most definitely include the instruction to write down time and the resulting 200 hours you lost in any review/achievement memo you submit. I would also raise this with the partner instructing you to write down am your time and explain how his individual instructions conflicts with firm policies and the effect it has had on your billable totals. That is a substantial amount of time and I would have a major issue with continuing on that basis.
100% this
Nope! He’s likely asking you to write off your time so he can inflate his own. Totally messed up and most large firms (as mentioned above) have policies prohibiting this. Elevate the issue and if not addressed, get out of there.
I don’t think it makes sense to elevate the issue. Between an associate (who does exceptional work) and a partner who brings in work. The firm will always pick the partner. There’s no doubt. Don’t start a war knowing it’s not on your favor
I’m sorry - I’ve been doing this for over 6 years and have been with two v6 firms. That’s normal. Most associates write off their own time as they get senior. That makes you look more efficient and helps with your review. Partners don’t want to write off your time because then they have to justify it in front of a finance committee.
I’m sorry but that’s how it is played at the two v5 firms I’ve been. Unless it’s a billionaire dollar deal, you should adjust your time accordingly
Also, some people are not efficient.
I guess I have over 2300 after I wrote off my time so it didn’t matter much to me
Associate 3 - I get what you are saying but I still prefer to be with a firm that has a higher billing rate. The pressure is for the partner to get/keep the business but it’s better for associates when you have high revenue. Easier when it comes to bonus season or a recession like covid. After being in this for a while, brand name in law firm really carries a long way. I’ve been with a smaller firm does much much much much better work than my current firm but their rate is only 50%!!!
Before we give you real advice, need to know the size of your firm and office. And the size of your practice group and if there's multiple partners in that group. Ideally you can handle this confidentially with the firm GC, office manager or whoever would tend to handle this. But if this is a smaller shop, that changes how you handle.
Please tell me the first letter of your firm - so familiar - same thing here.
Pro
I deal with this. I write off my time. On one end, it’s crap, on the other end if it takes you more time than the client is willing to pay for to put out the work product then it is professional development. I would write off my time, but put in the comment section of your written off hours “non-billable time on X matter.”
Also if you are in a niche practice like patent prosecution - you are writing off your hours non stop. I have five friends do this across all different types of firms. That’s what they do starting from day 1.
Also to everyone on this thread - I am here just to provide information that I know of about people cutting their hours. What you decide to do is your decision. Whether you agree or disagree, believe or doesn’t believe does not harm or benefit me in any way.
The reason I said what I said is I just wish people could give me information like this when I was junior (and when they did, I didn’t listen). I did well in school, and just bury myself at work after law school. Being a good lawyer (deliver good work product) is critical/essential to survive in a law firm but essentially, you need to have good emotional intelligence (know how to build a good relationship with partner, again, this is not just the partner recognizes your talent and put you on deals), this goes way further, will the partner vouch for you when you are up for partnership, will he bring you to the client pitch/client meeting, will he make you his favorite, etc.
I def lack in that department. I don’t like socializing and thought if I bill enough hours, make money for the firm, that’s all they care about. I didn’t pick up a lot of things (for example, the billing practice). When my friends start to tell me to cut hours, I laughed at them. I said what? No that’s not what they said at the associate development meeting. That’s not what I was told by this partner. I even asked him if I’m billing too many hours to the deal. And of course he said no your hours are fine.
Then I start to see bills when I get more senior. I see how a mid level bill so few hours when in fact I know how much he worked on that certain task that day. And I started to know why he’s been put on the same client all the time. And I also see how they are invited to golf trips together (I’m a woman and I don’t play golf). That’s how (and with many other events) that associate got to be the go to associate for that client. I focused on too much on documents and ignored other part of career development. I used to think getting that bonus was critical. Now I think about it, energy should be channeled somewhere else if I want to stay at a firm and get promoted.
Being a lawyer is all about client service (and often time it goes beyond giving good work product), client doesn’t want to lift a finger and you get done, and best yet, you send a small bill. Partners want the same. For the fixed fee deals, if the actual bill is smaller than the budget, he bills the client the budget and then pocket the difference. I’ve seen that happened multiple times. Is it good? No. But who am I going to tell? Accounting def knows when they assign the “profit margin” to the relationship partner