SA Hours Forum

[Anonymous User]

What are hours like for a Summer Associate at a big firm?

[DildaMan]

It is variable depending on your office and practice area. I spent approximately 50 hours a week doing IP lit.

[shock259]

There's a lot of threads on this.

NYC V50 here. I got in at ~9:30am and left by 7:00pm most days. If something was due, I'd stay until it was done. Only stayed past 8:00pm on a couple of days. Firm events frequently go late (and you are expected to attend).

[Anonymous User]

There's a lot of threads on this.

NYC V50 here. I got in at ~9:30am and left by 7:00pm most days. If something was due, I'd stay until it was done. Only stayed past 8:00pm on a couple of days. Firm events frequently go late (and you are expected to attend).

Is this similar to what the first year associates worked? Or were they working longer hours?

[chem]

There's a lot of threads on this.

NYC V50 here. I got in at ~9:30am and left by 7:00pm most days. If something was due, I'd stay until it was done. Only stayed past 8:00pm on a couple of days. Firm events frequently go late (and you are expected to attend).

Is this similar to what the first year associates worked? Or were they working longer hours?

Similar, where I SA'd. The first years took work home frequently though.

[Anonymous User]

NY NLJ250 SA last summer. Worked the whole damn time, seriously. I had maybe 2 weekends completely off, rest I was either in the office or working from home for most of my weekend. We got treated more like first-year associates than SAs.

Ex: 4th of July weekend: doc review all weekend. Not just like a little here and there, like the entire break + weekend buried in documents

A little taste of things to come

[Anonymous User]

Did two SA's.

First, a big (250 attorneys) firm in flyover country. Hours were like 8 AM - 5/5:30 PM. Stayed till like 7 or 7:30 I think one or two nights.

Second, NYC V15. Hours were like 9:30/10AM - 5/6/7 PM. Stayed till 2 AM twice. Worked in the office two weekends--two saturdays and one sunday. Did some remote work another weekend. Then again, I went to 3 hour lunches literally every day, so it was pretty chill.

[goodolgil]

NY NLJ250 SA last summer. Worked the whole damn time, seriously. I had maybe 2 weekends completely off, rest I was either in the office or working from home for most of my weekend. We got treated more like first-year associates than SAs.

Ex: 4th of July weekend: doc review all weekend. Not just like a little here and there, like the entire break + weekend buried in documents

A little taste of things to come

whoa, i never heard of SAs doing doc review.

[Anonymous User]

Most days are a wash because you are so busy with events and lunches that you have no time for anything else.

[Anonymous User]

OP - try to find someone from your school who SA'ed at the same office the year prior or before, because it really does vary by not only firm, but office. I was at a V15 and worked 9-5 (a few times 9-6) and no weekends. It was also strongly emphasized that we shouldn't feel obligated to attend most firm events. On the other hand, I knew people at other offices of our firm that worked many weekends and were under pressure quite often.

[Anonymous User]

Had SA at V50 in SoCal. Worked maybe 4 hrs a day on average. No weekends or nights ever, in by 10 out by 6.

[Big Shrimpin]

If you're billing much more than 100hrs/mo, you're most likely doing it wrong.

[Amity]

Generally speaking . . .SA hours are normally 9A-5P. Depending on the workload and deadlines, lunch is only a 50:50 possibility. Minimal weekend work (from home). If a holiday falls on a Thurs, you have Friday off.

None of this is true for associates who generally work past 9P and on weekends.

[20160810]

If you're billing much more than 100hrs/mo, you're most likely doing it wrong.

Seriously. What's going on with these gunners?

I could see working maybe 50 hours a week due to inefficiency, but more than that and you're just spinning your wheels.

Don't miss deadlines as a summer, and do make sure your work is good, but there is truly no need to gun supreme. The priority should be making people like you, socializing , and enjoying the fact that you will never again make that much money with so little being expected of you.

[Big Shrimpin]

If you're billing much more than 100hrs/mo, you're most likely doing it wrong.

Seriously. What's going on with these gunners?

I could see working maybe 50 hours a week due to inefficiency, but more than that and you're just spinning your wheels.

Don't miss deadlines as a summer, and do make sure your work is good, but there is truly no need to gun supreme. The priority should be making people like you, socializing , and enjoying the fact that you will never again make that much money with so little being expected of you.

I've seen SAs get bad midsummer reviews for billing a shitton of hours on work requiring no heavy lifting. Probably won't get you no-offered, but it certainly doesn't look good. We all know how hard we're going to gape you with work when you start full-time, so the focus should be, as SBL said, more on enjoying the experience and meeting people.