Career Center: Hours - The Real (And Tough) Story
Today’s Career Center Tips Series, focused on the billable hour, is brought to you by Lateral Link’s Frank Kimball, an expert recruiter and former hiring partner.
Students and new associates are concerned about hours. So are firms. You will hear anecdotes and twice-told tales about monstrous hours. You will hear that Smith & Jones is a sweatshop, but that Arnold and Baker is a laid-back place. Most lawyers are hardworking by nature, and will work hard no matter where they practice. You will work many hours beyond client hours to manage the practice, be trained and train others, stay current in your field and market, and manage the firm.
The differences among firms’ expectations have never been as great as law students believe (and hope). In the wake of the 2000 and 2007 compensation avalanches, expectations on billable hours changed forever….
Do not assume that size has a direct relationship to chargeable hours. And do not assume that thirdhand hearsay about “kinder, gentler” firm ABC has any bearing today. On the flip side, you should not always assume that a premier mega-firm is hostile, impersonal, or any more demanding than its somewhat smaller, distant cousins. Firms that pay at the top (no matter how large) have comparable expectations.
Chargeable hours for associates at leading firms are rising. The once typical expectation of 1,900 hours a year has nudged north to 2,000-2,100. It is an inevitable consequence of the dramatic increases in compensation. Most firms have chargeable hour guidelines (quotas). They establish a performance floor for compensation purposes. If your hours fall below the floor, your compensation and future are in trouble. Earning $160,000-$300,000 annually from your 1st through your 7th year out of school for 2,000-2,300 hours of work does not violate the 13th Amendment.
Typical associate chargeable hours in mega firms and large firms are 2,000-2,100 per year. However, the typical associate who is “in the hunt” for partnership — an ambitious prime-time player — is likely to bill 2,300-2,400 hours per year. Typical partner hours for the same firms are at the same level — and when one includes the time that partners spend developing business, managing clients, and administering the firm, their total time is typically higher than total time for associates. The message for students: when one becomes a partner, one will work harder. And the best will work harder than that. These are tough, but true, facts that students should understand before they dip their toes in the professional pond of private practice.
Find out more about the elusive billable hour by clicking here for the rest of the article. For additional career and OCI articles, as well as profiles of individual law firms, check out the Career Center.
