Starting new job as third year associate (I’ve been a term clerk since I graduated). Is it possible/relatively easy to hit 1800 hours working 8-6 and not working weekends? Afraid my husband will divorce me if I work too many hours 🙃

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“Easy”? Absolutely not. That schedule is just not possible in big law unless you only plan to stay a year. There will be times, no matter what practice group you’re in, where you’ll need to work evenings and weekends - the alternative is to make someone else do that work and quickly become someone no one wants to work with.

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Actually, not that easy. Track it monthly as you go though. Put in time every day. Insist that you get the C/M up front. Go back and make sure that parked time was moved—it will not happen unless you bird dog it. Make sure time that is supposed to be billing equivalent actually is. Expect to work weekends. You’re a professional. Hubby will need to get over it and be supportive.

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Plus, putting a few hours over the weekend can make the week seem more manageable.

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1800 is pretty easy. But (depending on your practice and the people you work for) a guaranteed schedule all or even most of the time is not.

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This.

If I could work a solid 10 hours from 8-6, Monday through Friday, I would be thrilled. What happens instead is a couple days of 6-7 hours, followed by several 11-12 hour days that bleed into the weekends because of deadlines outside of my control. Then there’s the “downtime” where you appear to be free but work could strike at any minute, so don’t be too far from your computer. The uncertainty of it all is what took me the longest to get used to.

I hit 2700 although I wanted to hit 1700. A lot of it is not under your control, you can’t exactly turn everything down once you hit 1800.

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Very easy. And you can take your vacation and hit that. All you need to do is establish boundaries.

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In my experience it’s not that easy. Work is never a steady flow—you will work 9am to 2am sometimes and then some days you’ll log off at 3pm. Sometimes you’ll work all weekend just to have no work at the beginning of the week, etc. #biglawlife

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Yes and no. I have an 1850 target and I typically work those hours. But it’s not 100% of the time—if there’s a closing or a lot going on I’ll work evenings and/or weekends. My husband doesn’t want me to work crazy hours either but he understands that occasionally I will have to. Key is to keep good track of where you are relative to your target, budget time for vacations in advance, and ask for work if you’re falling behind your target. And set boundaries—just because an email comes in at 9pm does not mean it has to be answered or someone expects you to answer at 9pm. If you’re on a deadline, sure. But on some random Tuesday maybe/probably not.

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I should add: Also key is communicating with your spouse about when things are about to get crazy, to the extent you can!

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Yes definitely possible!

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Possible, yes. Likely, no. I think entering into a big law environment with the expectation that you work banker hours is ill advised. Could you technically make your hours if you keep focused, absolutely. But this job is about flexibility and fulfilling client needs when the client needs them. You can and should carve out time for date nights, vacations, and other life events. But I wouldn’t go into it with the expectation that you’re done at 6 PM every night. 

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