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How did you do this? It’s 7:30 pm and I’ve docketed 3.4 hours. I know my colleague was distracting me today and I couldn’t get rid of him. But sometimes at the end of the day I’m like oh man where did the time go
Scared 😟
Perhaps you are feeling this way in part because you’re a very junior attorney. I see junior attorneys being too thorough or spending way too much time on things (that the client won’t pay for) because they worry that their work product isn’t perfect. While it’s important to be thorough and accurate, those goals also have to be balanced against getting the deliverable to the client, or filing the brief on time, etc. Also, some of the issues that you may think are important may be irrelevant to the big picture or detract from other arguments. As you gain experience, you should find it easier to discern how thorough you need to be for any given task and you’ll also be able to work more efficiently.
Lastly, I’ll add that if it’s a matter of lacking confidence in your work product when you don’t have as much time to complete it as you’d like, that too will get better as you gain experience. Many of us have felt that way at times, especially when you are in a fast-paced practice area like litigation.
Despite this seemingly positive change, I discovered that my long work weeks and weekends didn’t end...As my dissatisfaction continues, I discovered another potential issue: my firm values quantity over quality, which does not seem to jive with my personality. I feel that my colleagues have mastered the perfect balance of caring to the point of completing a task, well enough, but also don’t let much phase them in terms of workload and stress. I find that when I try to mimic this balance, I end up rushed and feeling that my work is unpolished. Though I am not a perfectionist, I certainly feel that way compared to my colleagues. In this area of law, it makes sense that value is placed on your ability to turn around claims at a drop of a hat.
My fear is that I am naive to think that any other area of law would not present these same obstacles. Quite frankly, I am beginning to think I made the wrong choice of diving into law in the first place. I am wondering if there are areas that value thoroughness and problem solving, or offer a sense of fulfillment following long hours and dedication? At this point, I am worried any position at the associate level will land me in a theoretical case-mill...
Law = billable hours. Even if not in law most of working involves showing up, doing work, if you want promotion, raises, climb ladders you’ll need to show as in quantify your performance to show quality. I’m sorry you are feeling the dissatisfaction. Suggestion: focus on what exactly you need to get the work done, focus on quality, stop thinking about other things except only what you need. Cut out distractions. People bill successfully because well hiiiii selfish pleasure. Yes. Pleasure all mine! Good luck.
Look, no matter where you go, your firm needs a way to make money in order to pay your salary. There are going to be annoyances like this no matter where you go. What makes it better is if you have a decent boss and coworkers, that you get a “kick” out of the types of cases you work on, and that your billable requirement is not too crazy. Also, try to look at the situation as you’re “working to live” and not “living to work.” Get hobbies outside of work, etc. I understand the concept of “if you do something you love, you won’t work a day in your life” but it is too idealistic and 99% of the time impossible. Just trying to be real with you.
FYI, I was in insurance defense (auto accidents) and felt the same way about it being more about quantity over quality. I struggled but finally got myself out and into business litigation. Now i get a kick out of the work I do. Do I get bored? Yes. Do i sometimes feel like I’m doing tedious work just for billing? Yes. But as I’ve heard MANY people say, “it pays the bills...” and that’s what you need at the end of the day.
There are some areas of law that bill clients on a flat fee basis. However, they still try to track hours to see if their flat fee is in line with the hours put into cases. But, efficiency is also valued so long as the work product isn’t compromised.
I recommend you talk to a business coach to help you with this struggle. A good coach is worth the cost. It helped me determine what I was and was not willing to sacrifice for my career.
Rising Star
It’s not so much the law as it is about finding the right balance. Take a step back from the billable hour approach and look how far you’ve come in the 1.5 years of being a lawyer. Self reflection in both positives and negatives are essential to growth and your ability to do your job. Think of the positives you’ve done so far.
After that, see what others are doing that makes it easier to bill hours. It could be as easy of a fix as phrasing that may help give you more “good” billable hours. Unfortunately the field of law is about the hours you put into the job. You may want to consider a switch to the other side of the billable aspect of the job is bothersome. PI plaintiff’s side doesn’t have billable hours, allows you to perfect your craft and build theories on cases which seems like more of what you’re looking for.
At the end of the day, life comes before the job. Your job will be there when you’re dead and gone. Live in the now and enjoy life a little bit more.
Rising Star
I didn’t start a new project today until I entered my time. Feel so much better.
Okay seriously 1.5 years in. Please for your sanity know that if you don’t bill you’re not going to make it. Why fight it? You do the work you bill. You think about the law you bill. You get into your car you bill. You walk into the office, courthouse, someone else’s office, you shake hands you bill, bill, bill! You get paid right? You have a job again you bill.
I also qant to know your secret. What did you do to inprove your billing so significantly?
I think the way billing clicks for each person varies significantly. For me, it was understanding that my time is incredibly valuable and that it takes more than my .2 / .3 email response to answer a question to a client email. It took me diving back into the claim file to confirm context of the question and previous recommendations, analysis of moving forward, etc., which was deserving of additional billing. I started treating anything and everything as a billable opportunity. The billing itself takes a chunk of time too, but I am working on the “bill as you go” mentality so that I am not spending late evenings/weekends billing (and likely forgetting) everything I did in the day/week. I think it takes figuring out where you may be losing time and see if that is something that could be a billable opportunity. For example, reading an email and responding to an email is not always just two billable opportunities. Though it can sometimes just be two billable entries, if you needed to reopen the file, spend time considering a proper response/analysis, quickly look up statutes, etc, you likely have more than three billable entries to consider.