Billable Hours, Job Survey

The Hours Follow-Up: If you're looking at less than 1600 in 2009, you're not alone.

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Many of our Biglaw friends have been biting their nails over hours this year. Lawyers are not worried about making bonuses at the end of the year. They’re worried about keeping their jobs. Last week, we invited you to share your hours’ outlook for 2009 and to see how you compare with fellow anonymous ATL readers.
One astute commenter pointed out:

Has it dawned on anyone that people billing solid hours aren’t taking the time to take ATL surveys?
This survey will be less reliable than my balls.

We’re not sure how reliable that reader’s balls are, but the poll results might shrivel them. The percentage of those looking at less than 1600 hours for the year is staggering. Check out the results after the jump.


In the first few hours of the poll being up, a good chunk of voters — over 21% — said their hours were going to be fewer than 1600 for the year. Not surprisingly, those billing less that 1600 are our quickest voters (and likely, our most frequent ATL visitors). Over the next week, over 5,000 people voted. The percentage billing less than 1600 hours fell but not by much:

2009 Hours Prediction   Percentage or Survey Respondents
Less than 1600   19.4%
1600 to 1699   7.9%
1700 to 1799   8%
1800 to 1899   11.4%
1900 to 1999   12.6%
2000 or 2099   13.8%
2100 to 2199   9.6%
2200 to 2299   5.2%
2300 to 2399   4.1%
More than 2400   8%

See the results with pretty colors here.
The biggest percentage of billers are those coming in under 1600. Those billing between 2000 and 2100 hours came in second with over 13% of voters. The over-2400-hour heavy hitters made up 8% of those surveyed, or 420 people.
How does that compare to last year? Here are Justin Bernold’s results from 2007 and 2008 surveys. We’re including what respondents predicted midway through 2008 to give you a sense of how reliable 2009 predictions might be:
Results: How many hours did you bill in 2007 and 2008?

 Billable Hours   2007      2008 
(predicted)  		  2008 
(actual)  		  2008 
(actual 
client 
billable) 
Less than 1600     3.29%   7.93%   14.32%   16.65%
1600 – 1699     2.58%   6%   5.75%   5.55%
1700 – 1799     3.99%   5.61%   7.36%   8.87%
1800 – 1899     8.45%   7.54%   9.37%   11.39%
1900 – 1999     11.5%   16.44%   13.6%   15.21%
2000 – 2100     22.54%   21.08%   18.11%   15.79%
2100 – 2199     12.68%   14.31%     11.11%   9.52%
2200 – 2299     11.03%   6.77%   7.98%   5.77%
2300 – 2399     12.44%     5.42%   4.64%   4.33%
2400+     11.5%   8.9%   7.76%   6.92%

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Looks like 1600 minus billers are trending up and 2400 plus billers are trending down. We think our next survey might need 1400 and 1500 hour categories.
Earlier: The Hours: How are yours looking for 2009?
Associate Life Survey: What Did You Really Bill?

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