Billable Hours
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Baseball, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Shameless Plugs, Small Law Firms, Sports
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: Small-Firm Wins
I’m a huge Red Sox fan. (That noise you just heard were all the Yankees fans skipping ahead to the comment section. Don’t wait, guys. I’ll be right there.) This season began with the highest expectations, after the Sox won the offseason by acquiring superstars Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford and by rebuilding their bullpen. […] -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, In-House Counsel, Pro Bono
A Little Chat
Ed. note: This post is by Will Meyerhofer, a former Sullivan & Cromwell attorney turned psychotherapist. He holds degrees from Harvard, NYU Law, and The Hunter College School of Social Work, and he blogs at The People’s Therapist. His new book, Life is a Brief Opportunity for Joy, is available on Amazon (affiliate link). Some […] - Sponsored
Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so… -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Technology, United Kingdom / Great Britain
Color Coded Productivity Computers
I almost don’t want to write about this because I know how many law firm managers and industry consultants read this site. If you are a person of any authority at an American law firm, or even if you aspire to be such a person, please stop reading this post. We’ll consider it an Above […]
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Biglaw, Billable Hours, Small Law Firms, Technology
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: Blade Runner and the Future of Law
I’ve got news for you: The future of practicing law will not be about cloud computing. It won’t be about tablets or offshoring or client self-help or virtual law offices. It won’t be about e-discovery, or practice management, or paperless offices. Yes, these things will certainly all happen; many are happening now, and a number […] -
Billable Hours, Quote of the Day, Ridiculousness, Small Law Firms, Solo Practitioners, Ted Frank
Quote of the Day: And you thought you billed a lot of hours....
[Lawyer Dennis] Gingold claims to have billed an astonishing 48,772 hours on this case—which works out to almost 9.5 hours a day, every day without a single day off, between November 4, 1995, and December 7, 2009. This includes a seven-year stretch where Mr. Gingold billed 28,230 hours—an average of eleven hours a day, every […] -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Constitutional Law, Gay, Gay Marriage, King & Spalding, Money, Paul Clement, Politics
Paul Clement and King & Spalding Defend DOMA -- at a Discount
They say that everyone is entitled to a lawyer. [FN1] But is everyone entitled to the services of former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, one of our nation’s finest appellate advocates? At a discounted rate, no less? As we mentioned in yesterday’s Non-Sequiturs, the U.S. House of Representatives has hired Paul Clement and Clement’s law […] -
Associate Bonus Watch 2010, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Bonuses, Money
Associate Bonus Watch: Quinn Emanuel Matches Spring Bonuses at 2000 Hours -- Then Things Get Crazy Fun
In an earlier round-up on spring bonus stragglers, we talked about Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis, and Quinn Emanuel. Latham and Kirkland made spring bonus announcements a short while after our post, and now Quinn Emanuel is following suit. Actually, not “following” — depending on how hard they work, QE associates can beat the […] -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Money, Shameless Plugs, Small Law Firms
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: How Do You Set Your Billing Rates?
Ed. note: This is the latest installment of Small Firms, Big Lawyers, one of Above the Law’s new columns for small-firm lawyers. Ever since I stopped billing by the hour in 2006, lawyers are constantly asking me, “How do you set your prices?” It’s a topic I’ve lectured on and written about frequently, and my […] - Sponsored
Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get… -
Billable Hours, Eliot Spitzer, Law Revue, Law Revue Video Contest, Non-Sequiturs, State Judges, State Judges Are Clowns, Technology, Videos
Non-Sequiturs: 04.11.11
* New Egyptian democracy is already putting critics in jail. Dammit Middle East, this is why we can’t have nice things. [Gawker] * We must make sure this technology never gets into the hands of clients. [LawyerClock] * So it appears that South Dakota actually does have one badass living and working there — but […] -
Advertising, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Job Survey, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Career Center Survey Results: What Counts as Billable Time
If work is slow and you need a good chunk of hours to meet your billable target or to be eligible for a bonus, what’s your best bet for boosting your billables? According to the 884 respondents to Tuesday’s survey, pro bono work. About 68% of respondents say their firms give billable credit for at […] -
Advertising, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Job Survey, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Career Center Survey: What Counts as Billable Time?
Lately, many of you have been quite the busy billers, even working on MLK Day and Presidents Day. What undoubtedly keeps most associates on the clock on holidays (and pretty much every day of the year) is client billable work. But are there other kinds of activities for which your firm will give you billable […] -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Money, Small Law Firms
Small Firms, Big Lawyers: Have You Gotten Stupider?
Ed. note: This is the latest installment of Small Firms, Big Lawyers, one of Above the Law’s new columns for small-firm lawyers. I live near Wellesley, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb usually described with words like “leafy” and “tony.” (I get “leafy,” but I’ve never really figured out “tony.”) Think soccer moms in yoga pants and […] -
Billable Hours, Masturbation, Pornography, Quote of the Day, Sex
Quote of the Day: So This Is Work / Life Balance
I used to race home to have sex with my wife. Now I leave work a half-hour early so I can get home before she does and masturbate to porn. — “Perry,” a 41-year-old lawyer, quoted in a recent New York magazine article on pornography’s effect on the male libido.
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Navigating Financial Success by Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Maximizing Firm Performance
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Is The Future Of Law Distributed? Lessons From The Tech Adoption Curve
The rise of remote work has dramatically reshaped the relationship between Lawyers and Law Firms, see how Scale LLP has taken the steps to get…
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
How to best leverage generative AI as an early adopter with ethical use.
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Legal AI: 3 Steps Law Firms Should Take Now
If 2023 introduced legal professionals to generative AI, then 2024 will be when law firms start adapting to utilize it. Things are moving fast, so…
Sponsored
The Business Case For AI At Your Law Firm
ChatGPT ushers in the age of generative AI – even for law firms.
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Advertising, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Job Survey, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Career Center Survey Results: A Better Billable Year
After a year like 2009 (aka the worst year ever for Biglaw), 2010 was bound to be better. According to the nearly 1,000 survey responses we received, 2010 did in fact turn out to be a busier year for most associates. An impressive 73% of respondents hit their firm’s minimum billable hours requirements or unofficial […] -
Advertising, Biglaw, Billable Hours, Career Center, Shameless Plugs, This Is an Ad
Career Center Survey: Did you hit your billable hours requirement?
By most accounts, law firms had a stronger year in 2010 than in 2009 (although you wouldn’t know it from the disappointing bonuses that many of them paid out). Did a busier year translate into plenty of billables for all associates? In this week’s survey, we want to know whether you met your firm’s minimum […] -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, In-House Counsel, Money, Partner Issues
Inside Straight: Entering Time
Ed. note: This is the latest installment of Inside Straight, Above the Law’s new column for in-house counsel, written by Mark Herrmann. Also, in case you missed them because of the holiday break, be sure to check out his recent posts on in-house compensation and bonuses. First, a story. Then, my point. (If I promise […] -
Biglaw, Billable Hours
Hughes Hubbard Is the Latest Firm to Crack the Time Keeping Whip
I find it funny that firms that want to skimp on bonuses also expect associates to make sure they are helping the overall health and performance of the firm. At some level, why should associates care if the firm is up to date on its collections? It’s not like that money is going to trickle […] -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Money, Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: Litigation Is Expensive; Get Used to It
Although the matter is still being contested — Northland has asked a court to reduce its bill still further, to zero — the arbitrator’s finding calls into question the business model Goodwin and many other large law firms have relied on for decades: Deploying huge legal teams to pursue clients’ cases, often assigning more than […] -
Billable Hours, Brown Rudnick, Partner Issues
Brown Rudnick Shows Steven Pesner How to Inspire Time Keeping Compliance
Last month, we profiled Steven Pesner, a partner at Akin Gump who sounded like an egomaniac while threatening associates who did not promptly enter in their time. Prior to Pesner, Simpson Thacher threatened to dock the pay of timekeepers who are delinquent. Entering time is important, but sometimes you can get more flies with honey […] -
Biglaw, Billable Hours, Partner Profits, Staff Layoffs
Staff Layoffs Could Happen as Firms Struggle to Pump Up Profits
Welcome back from your long weekend. I trust everybody is ready to put in a lot of hard work through the holiday season in order to finish the year off strong. Ah, what’s the point? Based on the early bonus news, it seems that Biglaw managers are going to go with stingy bonus payments for […]