Summer Associate Billable Rates Forum

[Anonymous User]

Just curious of what the market rate looks like. Mine is $185/hour (biglaw firm) and I can't imagine that my firm actually bills a client this whole amount for the little amount of (average at best) work I am able to do in an hour.

[What the f.supp?]

$185.

[Anonymous User]

$250 (biglaw)

[thesealocust]

It's very client specific. Your rate is likely accurate, but substantial portions of your hours (up to and including all of them) will likely be written off by the partner in charge of billing for each project before the client sees the bill. Exactly how much will depend on the client, the firm, and the work you're doing.

[Anonymous User]

Just wondering how many client billable hours people have on average each day. Between lunches and extra trainings, I feel like I'm only billing clients about four hours per day. Should I be concerned?

[thesealocust]

Just wondering how many client billable hours people have on average each day. Between lunches and extra trainings, I feel like I'm only billing clients about four hours per day. Should I be concerned?

No.

[Anonymous User]

$245 big

[Anonymous User]

Technically $250, although I doubt any of it gets billed at my firm.

Just wondering how many client billable hours people have on average each day. Between lunches and extra trainings, I feel like I'm only billing clients about four hours per day. Should I be concerned?

Not unless your firm told you otherwise. At my firm, we are required to "account" for at least seven hours each day, which includes lunches, training, and other firm-sponsored events. So if I take a two hour lunch, go to a one hour training session, and spend four hours on a project, that will suffice. I know of at least one firm that expects eight billable hours from its summers each day, but that is certainly not the norm.

[PirateCap'n]

Technically $250, although I doubt any of it gets billed at my firm.

+1

[BunkMoreland]

Mine is 185 I think too, though I seriously doubt the extent to which clients pay for this.

[Anonymous User]

At my firm we use a program to enter our hours and it lets you see your total hours, as well as hours the firm billed. Only about 3 hours of my work has actually been billed from what I can see. That seems pretty accurate to me.

[Kohinoor]

At my firm we use a program to enter our hours and it lets you see your total hours, as well as hours the firm billed. Only about 3 hours of my work has actually been billed from what I can see. That seems pretty accurate to me.

If you're referring to DTE, the billable hours don't necessarily actually get billed to the client.