BigLawyers, How Many Vacation Days Did You Take in 2021? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Pro life tip: If your firm gives you a set number of vacation days per year, then state law or your firm's employment policies may require them to pay out unused PTO when you leave. If that is the case, you are leaving money on the table if you ever take vacation. It is very easy to take a vacation and just bill the minimum amount of time for those days (which could be as low as half an hour).

[Anonymous User]

I've been at a firm with 'unlimited' vacation and people took between 0-3 weeks a year but it seemed like everyone just kinda kept working during vacation. There also seemed like a bit of a fluid culture where vacations didn't really exist as distinct from regular days. People just said "I won't be in the office on X days". Which is even blurrier when we all went remote for COVID.

At a firm now with 4 weeks accruing vacation and people take it very seriously. I think almost everyone takes all of it and you're not really supposed to email/bother people while they're gone.

what firm are you at now?

DPW

Ehhhhhh I’m also at DPW (4th year) and vacation does seem to really be group dependent. Smaller groups in particular can make it really tough to disconnect.

[Anonymous User]

You could end up like me and still be doing it wrong. Make sure if you lateral it's in the second half of the year. Lots of places won't guarantee eoy bonus if you lateral early in the year and then it's a pro-rated shit show. On top of that, if you move markets and have to retake the bar, that cuts into your hours. I ended up not even making bonus because of it in a year that laterals were making hand over fist. Don't be like me.

I took 120 days of vacation* this year and was paid $580k total for the year (inclusive of various bonuses, including a signing bonus at the beginning of the year).

*counting 4 months of (secondary) parental leave as vacation.

Life is good.

Well done. I similarly took 6 weeks of paternity leave (only technically allowed 4, but no one noticed), another two weeks after giving notice, then lateraled and took six weeks off between jobs which were paid by the incoming firm, and then two more weeks at the new firm plus holidays for a grand total of about 16 weeks. Got all my special bonuses, a full year of salary and end year bonus.

In 2020, by contrast, I think there was not a single weekday that I did not bill.

I am doing biglaw wrong and really need to lateral somewhere...

[Sad248]

I think I took about 5? Would have done more, but I didn't see the point. When it's busy, I have to work anyway, so there's no point in taking vacation. When it's not busy, nobody cares where I am, so there is no point in taking vacation.

[Anonymous User]

Also at DPW and can confirm that people try really hard to respect vacations. Currently a second year and took 10 vacation days last year. Would have taken more but didn’t due to personal reasons (Covid + spouse started new job and needed to accrue time off).

[Anonymous User]

Fourth year at a firm with unlimited vacation days. I took 8 (that was one vacation). I will say, it was for the most part respected. Still unfortunate that I won't get paid out when I leave this year.

[Anonymous User]

At a firm with "unlimited" vacation days, used 5 and worked a bit during it. Such a scam and on my way out the door.

[Anonymous User]

You guys are scaring me. Is it really so hard to take vacation? Will it hurt my reputation if I take a few days here and there?

[Anonymous User]

I've been at a firm with 'unlimited' vacation and people took between 0-3 weeks a year but it seemed like everyone just kinda kept working during vacation. There also seemed like a bit of a fluid culture where vacations didn't really exist as distinct from regular days. People just said "I won't be in the office on X days". Which is even blurrier when we all went remote for COVID.

At a firm now with 4 weeks accruing vacation and people take it very seriously. I think almost everyone takes all of it and you're not really supposed to email/bother people while they're gone.

what firm are you at now?

DPW

That checks out — I’ve heard consistently good things about vacation policy, respect, and coverage at Davis Polk. Any other BL firms that are known for being good on this issue?

I've heard STB has the same vibes re vacation. People generally take all their vacation days + get coverage and people really don't bother you on vacation. Of course somewhat dependant on your team/group etc.

[Will_m]

I take at least 20 every year and have always worked at “unlimited vacation” firms.

Honestly, it seemed liked the smaller firms with older lawyers were a lot harder on vacation. They would always talk about how they never took vacation for the first ten years of their career. Don’t be like them. They wholeheartedly suck at life, have failed, will regret much at the end and otherwise must have piss poor time management and delegation skills. They most likely have some sort of complex that causes them to value the lack of a work life balance.

The bigger firms seemed to be easier, but it could be difficult to manage your workload.

I don’t know what area you are interested in, but overall I see very few positives to practicing law. As for litigation, the one good thing is some semblance of flexibility, so I do everything I can to take full advantage of it. I encourage you to do the same. You will not get this time back.

[Anonymous User]

Spouse and I (both in different teams and firms) took 25 days last year. No blowback whatsoever. Did much more than 2000+ and glowing reviews (both top of our classes). Normalize taking 5-6 weeks. No one is going to remember you because you took 5 days off.

[Anonymous User]

Took 10 total vacation days last year - 5 in June and 5 in October.

[Anonymous User]

DPW... 23 days. I think someone texted me once (we're friends IRL) to ask me for a doc, but the partner dug them up anyways.