New associate fuck up thread (and tips for slacking) Forum

[Cardbross]

Just waltzed into the office wearing jeans on what I thought was jeans day. No one else is in jeans; I assume I was mistaken. I will be hiding behind my desk until I can run home at lunch and change.

[los blancos]

The folks who can bill at near-100% efficiency are impressive.

Or liars.

I actually like fire drill type situations because it's the closest I can get to 100% efficiency

Yep yep and yep. I think anyone who bills more than 7-8 hrs in a normal 8-6ish day is probably committing fraud.

[Anonymous User]

The folks who can bill at near-100% efficiency are impressive.

Or liars.

I actually like fire drill type situations because it's the closest I can get to 100% efficiency

Yep yep and yep. I think anyone who bills more than 7-8 hrs in a normal 8-6ish day is probably committing fraud.

I've been saying this for years. There is people who jet out of here at 6 everyday and have 7-8 hours of billables (we can see each others hours). im just like that's impossible. unless I go into beast mode there is just no way I can leave at 630 and hit 8 hours. and we have no cafeteria so I know people are going out to get lunch. the math just doesn't add up.

[Anonymous User]

The folks who can bill at near-100% efficiency are impressive.

Or liars.

I actually like fire drill type situations because it's the closest I can get to 100% efficiency

Yep yep and yep. I think anyone who bills more than 7-8 hrs in a normal 8-6ish day is probably committing fraud.

I've been saying this for years. There is people who jet out of here at 6 everyday and have 7-8 hours of billables (we can see each others hours). im just like that's impossible. unless I go into beast mode there is just no way I can leave at 630 and hit 8 hours. and we have no cafeteria so I know people are going out to get lunch. the math just doesn't add up.

This must happen often, but does it matter?

[Johann]

fwiw, some people are actually disciplined and can work through an entire day. if i dont have fire drills going on im at about 60-70%, but i know people who are on 95% of the day. it's pretty insane.

[20160810]

fwiw, some people are actually disciplined and can work through an entire day. if i dont have fire drills going on im at about 60-70%, but i know people who are on 95% of the day. it's pretty insane.

I rely on adrenaline to keep me over 75%, otherwise I check ESPN and news sites a lot during the day

[Johann]

fwiw, some people are actually disciplined and can work through an entire day. if i dont have fire drills going on im at about 60-70%, but i know people who are on 95% of the day. it's pretty insane.

I rely on adrenaline to keep me over 75%, otherwise I check ESPN and news sites a lot during the day

adrenaline as in a substance or natural adrenaline? when i drink a lot of coffee i usually just go down a rabbit hole of sports stats and useless stuff. i've blown at least 10 full fridays in a year on this and had to either bill a whole day to professional reading or do work on the weekend.

[baal hadad]

fwiw, some people are actually disciplined and can work through an entire day. if i dont have fire drills going on im at about 60-70%, but i know people who are on 95% of the day. it's pretty insane.

Somewhere in that range is my rate as well for a day with no fire drill, no motions, no urgent research etc.

[los blancos]

fwiw, some people are actually disciplined and can work through an entire day. if i dont have fire drills going on im at about 60-70%, but i know people who are on 95% of the day. it's pretty insane.

Somewhere in that range is my rate as well for a day with no fire drill, no motions, no urgent research etc.

Same. For me it depends a lot on what I'm actually working on. It takes a herculean effort and physically separating myself from my phone to break 65% if I'm doc reviewing because it gets so intolerably boring. I can fairly easily hit 80% though if I'm in a Westlaw rabbit hole/writing a brief.

I don't understand how people think of doc review as "easy billables!" It takes me 25% longer and twice the mental effort.

[Anonymous User]

This brings up 2 q's. (1) What tips do people have for focusing better when doing things like doc review or diligence? It is very hard. (2) Do you bill real time if you're at 65% efficiency?

[los blancos]

The folks who can bill at near-100% efficiency are impressive.

Or liars.

I actually like fire drill type situations because it's the closest I can get to 100% efficiency

Yep yep and yep. I think anyone who bills more than 7-8 hrs in a normal 8-6ish day is probably committing fraud.

I've been saying this for years. There is people who jet out of here at 6 everyday and have 7-8 hours of billables (we can see each others hours). im just like that's impossible. unless I go into beast mode there is just no way I can leave at 630 and hit 8 hours. and we have no cafeteria so I know people are going out to get lunch. the math just doesn't add up.

Could be logging on from home? I can see everyone else's time sheets but most people don't enter it everyday. But yeah I think a lot of padding happens. And probably because people who keep their time meticulously start feeling like they're getting taken advantage of.

[los blancos]

This brings up 2 q's. (1) What tips do people have for focusing better when doing things like doc review or diligence? It is very hard. (2) Do you bill real time if you're at 65% efficiency?

(1) No idea. Maybe people take adderall. Lemme know if you find out. Music helps sometimes.

(2) i use a timer and I bill all of it. Timer is off if I'm on tls/twitter/texting/chatting with someone in the hall/whatever. I don't write off any time for zoning out/being somewhat distracted/glancing at the TV or whatever in part because I feel like it's < the time lost on random small stuff and just thinking about a case when not at work.

[Desert Fox]

[Anonymous User]

Are e-mails not billable? I've always billed them, even as a summer if they're related to the assignment I'm billing. Also, what is the protocol on headphones? My first day as a summer I was told by a partner who saw me working with headphones that it is disrespectful to listen to headphones so I stopped, and just became less productive per hour. It's always been hard for me to do work without listening to music.

[Johann]

there have actually been studies that multitasking - even listening to music kills accuracy etc and ability to do good work. doc review is a pretty mind numbing task, and i get people will multitask anyways because thats just who we are, but a partner absolutely is in the right to say that's disrespectful. so i just wouldnt use headphones if you sit close to that partner.

and of course emails are billable.

if im working on something, i bill it. if it takes me a long time because i have to keep restarting it because of interruptions and im less productive, thats just tough luck. if i have to do it late at night and it takes me twice as long, that's just tough luck. partner recently got mad at me over this when reviewing the bill asking if it actually took me 10 hours to do something and demanded the final product. i just said yeah - not my concern if the bill is written down or whatever because i spent the time on it.

[Anonymous User]

I would imagine the bill is up to the partner, but if they're not reading every detail, I can envision a scenario where the client finds something unfair and then has a bad taste in his/her mouth regarding the entire experience. If I am now by different partners then is the headphone thing safe? I don't see anyone else wearing them. Do others actually do this or is it weirdoish?

[los blancos]

I do it all the time. People seem to think I'm on the phone sometimes (it looks a bit like a headset) but no one has given me any grief about it. May vary office to office.

[Desert Fox]

[20160810]

This brings up 2 q's. (1) What tips do people have for focusing better when doing things like doc review or diligence? It is very hard. (2) Do you bill real time if you're at 65% efficiency?

(1) No idea. Maybe people take adderall. Lemme know if you find out. Music helps sometimes.

(2) i use a timer and I bill all of it. Timer is off if I'm on tls/twitter/texting/chatting with someone in the hall/whatever. I don't write off any time for zoning out/being somewhat distracted/glancing at the TV or whatever in part because I feel like it's < the time lost on random small stuff and just thinking about a case when not at work.

This is all accurate. Billing for a full hour when you spent 20 minutes on ESPN.com is fraud, which is bad, so don't do that. Just use timers and goof off all you want.

[brotherdarkness]

I do it all the time. People seem to think I'm on the phone sometimes (it looks a bit like a headset) but no one has given me any grief about it. May vary office to office.

I wear headphones a lot of the time. Doesn't seem that common in my office, but I have seen others wearing headphones and no one has said anything to me about it.

[rpupkin]

I do it all the time. People seem to think I'm on the phone sometimes (it looks a bit like a headset) but no one has given me any grief about it. May vary office to office.

I wear headphones a lot of the time. Doesn't seem that common in my office, but I have seen others wearing headphones and no one has said anything to me about it.

No dude, they're saying stuff to you about it. You just can't hear them because you're wearing headphones.

[Desert Fox]

[El Pollito]

no one in my office wears headphones

[RaceJudicata]

What is the consensus on "background noise" music. I.e. Playing music (think Dave Matthews type music) through computer speakers at a low volume throughout day. Inaudible from hall way, but audible if someone were to step in your office.

[fats provolone]

What is the consensus on "background noise" music. I.e. Playing music (think Dave Matthews type music) through computer speakers at a low volume throughout day. Inaudible from hall way, but audible if someone were to step in your office.

ok as long as it's not dave matthews