When your boss gives you 48 hours (clock hours not billable hours) to produce a viable objection to a MTD/compel arbitration in a complex commercial lit case, which is not my practice area, what kind of result is he expecting? From scratch, no template.

What are firm’s known billable requirements? Is there a ramp up period?

How many billable hours do people in prosecution tend to average each month? I’ve gone through waves of feeling like my billable hours requirement is reasonable to feeling like I’m drowning and can’t possibly do it for that long.

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

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?

I currently work at a medium sized firm and have about two years experience in personal injury litigation. The billable hours and lack of work life balance are really getting to me and I am looking to switch to something else out of litigation, preferably in house. I am also looking to relocate to a different state. How do I go about properly marketing myself to companies that might not take my relocation and minimal experience seriously?

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?

I’ve been a freelance print production designer for many years, and usually on-site in the before times. Now I work remote, and am finding it uneasy dealing with billing. Before I always billed hourly, which made sense, but it’s becoming an issue now. Some companies don’t have a full days’ work, so it seems wrong to bill full days, and it allows me to juggle projects for different companies, but my billable hours are down. I know I should bill a daily rate, but not sure that will fly. Thoughts?

Recently lateraled as a public defender in HCOL area to ID in LCOL area for $$$. I’ve been at the job a little over a month. My concerns are that I’m getting very little guidance or mentorship, and I’m worried about not hitting billable hours (2000 requirement but I am just over 80 for the first month). I am only in charge of a ~5 cases atm and struggle with figuring out the next steps, etc. I’ve met all my deadlines that have come up. Thoughts or advice?

Did the billable hours bonus not get paid out today? Or is it to be paid in the next check?

Have any of you taken "low bono" clients while working at a firm? I want to take on a low bono client or two but not sure who would get the money. This is a contract opportunity through a non profit so I'm assuming a 1099 will be issued. The per hour rate is significantly less than my billable rate. I would (obviously) like the money but my real objective is just getting experience/networking since I recently moved to a new state and don't have clients of my own.

Anyone else here have terrible utilization because their deals die and a code never opens? /can’t find another code to book hours? I’m sitting on over 200 billable hours at this point

With the various RTO rumors/fear out there and in the absence of spring/summer/fall(?) bonuses. Would you consider coming into the office more if your firm offered bonuses linked to days in the office (coupled with billable targets, of course)?

I heard so much about minimum billable hours here by staff. I never saw that email. Is it inly for certain groups?

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

Received a job offer. Was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on a concern I had about it. It's an entry level position, and I don't have much experience. The billables are 2040 a year. For billable hours in civil litigation and insurance defense, is 2040 hours for a 1st year associate on the high end in this field for a small or midsize firm? It seems like most attorneys I know have minimum requirements of around 1800. The compensation is around 80k a year.

3.5 years out of school, 2400 billable hours last year in TRS and just got promoted. what kind of year end compensation should I be expecting? Bonus and new salary

Are any other paralegals struggling with billable hour requirements? I have 5 years of experience in corporate transactions, M&A, and real estate work, and have never had billable hour requirements. I'm in a new job now where I do and I'm nowhere near meeting them. I'm getting a lot more admin work than billable work, and it's stressing me out.

Does industry have billable hours? At the big 4, we are required to work a certain number of hours each week and if we spend too much time on anything we are questioned on why it took so long. Is that a thing when you go in industry?

I have an interview with Korn Ferry for an associate principal role and am curious about others’ experiences have been with work-life balance here. Also, I have an idea of what I should be compensated in this type of role, but any insights on how they pay compared to others would be helpful. Are you traveling during the pandemic or have client interactions been virtual? Lastly, if you are a consultant here, are you on billable hours? My current consulting role is not - so this would be new.

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

What do you think about management's decision to require all staff to come into the office?

If I initiate seperation from IBM while in the last few days in an account (End date in two weeks), what is the notice period ? Will it be immediately effective or will I be on bench for 1 month or 3 months with salary ?

Similarly, if I am already on bench and initiate seperation from IBM as I am not getting clients I want to join, will it be immediate effective or 1 month or 3 months with salary ?

What do you think is a reasonable total fee for a prenuptial agreement where both parties have significant assets and there is some negotiation? What about for a dissolution with a complex asset situation and children? I had a prenup a few weeks ago that came out to $7,000 and another about $5500, and I didn’t overbill, but I am willing to write some off if that seems excessive or I am just slow. There were several negotiations on the higher priced one. (Continued…)

I noticed that most (>80%) of the recruiter messages i get on linkedin are for other consulting roles. Any tips for getting more outreach for industry positions?

Advanced degree with 3YOE at a LS boutique

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I recently joined citi. I have been given choice for to select superannuation as 13% of BS or 12500/- monthly or zero.

This is one time selection and not reversible.

I am already investing 1.5 lakh in 80C through SIP and EPF.

I need more detail about superannuation and is it beneficial or not?

Also is there any retirement age in IT field 🤔 (or in citi)?

How long did you hear for an update after applying to visa with or without a referral?

I just got a job offer for an Entry Level Software Engineer at Boeing in Saint Louis. The salary is $82,000 with an $8,000 sign on bonus. I was hoping for an offer closer to 90k base and I don’t care too much for a sign on bonus. However, this is a lot more than what I’m making now, and would be my first SWE job. Should I counter? If so, how would I go about doing that? Thanks!

FTI Senior Director base + bonus in NYC?

Hello Fishers,

After how many days EY GDS releases the offer letter.. I have submitted the candidature form and had HR discussion..

Does that means I am selected?

Thanks.

Hi everyone! I’d like to connect with Latino / Hispanic creatives working at Consumer agencies in NYC. Please reach out. I have some questions :-)

Would you recommend Sedona during Christmas or San Diego during Christmas with a 1.5 year old? Entertainment, safety, meaningful experience-focused.

Sedona will be much colder, possibly snowing/icy and will be hiking, hot tub, enjoying the scenery focused. San Diego will be beach, enjoying scenery focused. Both Airbnb options look beautiful. Will also have 60 year old grandparents joining

Hey Zsers

Can somebody tell me the appraisal cycle in ZS ? Is it once a year or twice ?

Whats your favorite case management software? My growing small practice is looking for recs

So here in CA there is a lot of talk about certain jurisdictions doing virtual jury trials. As a firm we won’t agree to it and if push comes to shove we’ll take it up on. Writ. What is everyone else’s opinion?

I have a case I have enough evidence on to go to summery judgement on off the gate. Procedurally what's the best way to go a out this? D's are unrepresented and extremely difficult about settlement talks.

To the author the the “Lately I’ve been getting the vibe that I am [being Frozen Out (BigLaw term of art for your concerns or situation)]. My TOME on how to handle the situation through every route if and until you leave BigLaw appears to have suddenly NOW posted. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️. My keyboard is sticking on the site so there are surely typos (I long ago turned off Auto-Corrupt). My sympathy, best wishes, and offer of trustworthy support(BEEN THERE, SEEN IT, put in my decade in BigLaw) still stands.

Should Dropbox be used as the main file system for a busy Litigation office? Help me prove that it shouldn’t and suggest a software that your firm uses.

Anyone here have any insight on lateraling to Rawle & Henderson? 10 years exp.

So is it just me or do people who have been doing ID for decades generally fall into one of two groups? The first group are cynical people who have been divorced, their kids hate them, etc. then the second group are BS artists who are skilled at avoiding both work and responsibility for anything?

Recently lateraled as a public defender in HCOL area to ID in LCOL area for $$$. I’ve been at the job a little over a month. My concerns are that I’m getting very little guidance or mentorship, and I’m worried about not hitting billable hours (2000 requirement but I am just over 80 for the first month). I am only in charge of a ~5 cases atm and struggle with figuring out the next steps, etc. I’ve met all my deadlines that have come up. Thoughts or advice?

Anyone with document review experience able to give tips on running searches, specifically nextpoint?

I have my first solo hearing in front of opposing counsel and the Judge, were asking for a fee multiplier on a contingency case. This is in Florida BTW. Any tips or advice for my first hearing will be greatly appreciated.

In Texas, does anyone have any advice on what questions to ask general contractor in deposition? We represent subcontractor. I think I have my outline completed but wanted to know if I was missing anything else.

I’ve been working at a rather prestigious midsized firm in a big city for almost a year and a half now. I have been having a lot of trouble picking up work from senior partners. We are required to bill at least 150 hours per month to meet our requirement. My months are typically only 110-130 hours. It seems like the senior partners already have their “go to” associate for things. Does anyone have any suggestions on how i can increase my workload? I reach out for work pretty much weekly.

Does anyone else constantly put off putting their time in as they go and then hate their life at the end of the month? Then once you get caught up, you don’t want to enter more time, and so you fall behind again. It’s a vicious cycle.

My work doesn’t require us to be licensed in a particular state (i am licensed in my home country) - International Arbitration. What are the obvious benefits of getting licensed in New York?

Does anyone work at a firm where legal assistants don't do legal assistant things? For example, I have to do my scheduling and calendaring. I have to upload documents to our file management system. This morning, a name partners assistant didn't realize the name partner had a depo and didn't confirm it. This is how this firm as been for decades and it's incredibly frustrating to work this way. It's so hard to not stress over this daily.

In house insurance defense comp. What’s the highest paid and lowest paid companies? Which companies give bonuses? Please provide yoe and salary.

Anyone heard of Koeller, Nebeker, Carlson & Haluck? Thoughts?

I feel like this is the busiest billable December I’ve had. Anyone else absolutely swamped with work this month?

Have an opportunity to finally get out of insurance defense. But not really sold on the firm. Could finally get out of ID, but then could also end up at another place I really don't like. Def want my next firm to be long term as I've jumped around.

For those of you in hybrid roles, what two days of the week are best worked from home? TIA