This Lawyer (Probably) Billed More Hours Than You

That's a staggering number of hours to bill in a year.

3,600 hours. That’s how many hours Daniel Bliss, an intellectual property partner at Howard & Howard, billed last year. That’s enough hours for two attorneys to earn a bonus at other firms. That means he averaged 70 billable hours every. single. week. That’s 10 hours every day — for a year. That’s insane.

But Bliss? He seems… weirdly happy about it. He tells Law.com:

“You know what?” Bliss said. “When the sun shines, you have to make hay.”

Which just feels like a weird folksy way of saying work is the only thing going on in your life.

Bliss was identified by Law.com as part of the responses received for the Am Law 200/NLJ 500 survey when firms were asked to report the total hours billed by the lawyer with the most hours in 2017. Bliss not only had a crazy high number of billable hours, he was willing to talk about it.

He says he’s lucky to have the work to support the staggering number of hours he bills. #blessed Entering his own time sheets keeps him grounded — and keeps the records detailed and accurate. He’s at the office 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. every day and tries to average 10 billable hours, but doesn’t stress if he doesn’t hit that number, cause there’re other days when he’ll bill in excess of that goal:

He also said it helps to keep a steady pace. To keep on track, he strives to bill 10 hours a day. “Sometimes you make it. Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you go beyond it,” he said.

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Oh, and here’s an extra tip, just to squeeze that extra bit o’ billable time from every day — even if you’re on vacation:

He also works on airplanes while traveling, often drafting patent applications.

“It’s that little bit that helps each month,” he said.

So, what’s it like working for such a go-getter? Does he just crush associates under the weight of hours expectations?

Despite his nose-to-the-grindstone ways, Bliss said he doesn’t expect the same from his associates. “Not everybody is going to be like me,” he said.

Well that’s good news. And he probably has a higher billing rate anyway.

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headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).