Include 1L summer billing total in OCI resume? Forum

[General Tso]

I've billed a not insignificant amount of money this summer. Should I include a rough estimate in my OCI resume?

[Corsair]

..

[rajesh88]

put your SAT score in there too

[General Tso]

I've billed a not insignificant amount of money this summer. Should I include a rough estimate in my OCI resume?

WTF? That seems... silly.

Why so? Everything I've read is that employers are interested in what you can do for them. Nothing is more indicative of this than the kind of $$ you are capable of bringing in.

[Pearalegal]

I've billed a not insignificant amount of money this summer. Should I include a rough estimate in my OCI resume?

WTF? That seems... silly.

Why so? Everything I've read is that employers are interested in what you can do for them. Nothing is more indicative of this than the kind of $$ you are capable of bringing in.

Oh heavens. First off, its tacky. Second off, they have no idea what you were doing during those billable hours. Most of it was probably written off anyways. At this point, you're not bringing in any other money than the billable hours you'll bill completely because of the assignments they'll directly give you. Its not like you're not bringing in clients.

[SplitterPride]

Would you be hurt if I told you they shredded your work as soon as you left. Its just a useless exercise biglaw does as a matter of procedure. So is your 2L summer billing. Completely wasted and probably less useful than cow dung. Having said that, for now, its a matter of them courting you, not the other way around. That starts day 1 as a full time associate. So enjoy your time. Cog.

[bwv812]

.

[IAFG]

these posters are just jealous. any hiring partner would definitely be interested. put it as the first bullet under your summer firm.

[profs<3mycomments]

Don't you go to Hastings? Where were you billing these hours, the city attorney's?

[let/them/eat/cake]

I've billed a not insignificant amount of money this summer. Should I include a rough estimate in my OCI resume?

WTF? That seems... silly.

+1. Also, nice 'tar.

[Lawl Shcool]

I worked for a small firm where my hours were billed. I'm not going to list it on my resume but I will def be bringing it up in interviews as a talking point. As a SA and as an associate you are what you bill so it is very relevant.

[General Tso]

I worked for a small firm where my hours were billed. I'm not going to list it on my resume but I will def be bringing it up in interviews as a talking point. As a SA and as an associate you are what you bill so it is very relevant.

Thank you...

I work at a small firm, and my billable hours are most definitely being billed to the client. I have made significantly more money for my firm than I've been paid this summer.

[Antipodean]

Do not put billable hours on your resume.

I don't know what the environment was like at your firm, but at all the firms I've worked in / had experience with, billable hours are only discussed in the abstract, much like salary and bonuses. You might discuss exact figures with good friends, but to broadcast that kind of information is a major faux pas.

Feel free to discuss billing at your interview. Just be careful not to give exact figures on how much you billed. Knowing how to bill is a minor selling point at best, and you can easily shoot yourself in the foot with an interviewer who feels this stuff is private.

[rando]

I worked for a small firm where my hours were billed. I'm not going to list it on my resume but I will def be bringing it up in interviews as a talking point. As a SA and as an associate you are what you bill so it is very relevant.

Thank you...

I work at a small firm, and my billable hours are most definitely being billed to the client. I have made significantly more money for my firm than I've been paid this summer.

If your employer billed the client for hours produced by a 1L summer, then interviewers will just discount your summer employer as totally lacking credibility.

Mentioning the hours you billed in an interview or on your resume...

Best case scenario - the interviewer will see that you didn't just do fluff nonsense all summer and that you are smart enough to fill out a timesheet.

Worst case scenario - your resume will be thrown in the garbage as the recruiter laughs at you thinking that the hours you billed after 1 year of law school are relevant.

[12262010]

these posters are just jealous. any hiring partner would definitely be interested. put it as the first bullet under your summer firm.

+1. As a 2L, I can confirm that this is TCR.

[270910]

Problems:

1) Many summers get "make work" - projects designed more to teach you or get experience. Which dove tails particularly into point 2...

2) Many summer hours get written off by the partners. Even if they weren't, it's common practice so most interviewers will probably think it's naive of you to list the hours you worked as though it were impressive.

3) Summer associate programs are designed to be introductions and recruitment oriented. Attempting to display a particular commitment to work might show your priorities being misplaced. It's good to do work and they will expect a lot of you, but if you hold the # of hours you ground out at your summer job up as an example, it likely won't reflect well on you.

TCR is that it would be highly unorthodox to do so, and any time you do something highly unorthodox you need to carefully weigh the pros and cons. Some interviewers may well be impressed by it, but I also guarantee you some will be turned off. I believe that with some minor but important exceptions the ethos of resume writing should be "first, do no harm."

[NYAssociate]

.

[ViIIager]

This can't be a serious question. The math of "how much money did I bring in" is suspect--what if you work for a firm that bills less per hour than its peers? Does that make you worth less, even if you billed more hours total? If you go with the "I billed # of hours", you invite questions Disco noted.

Have you ever seen any resume, beyond a Federal-Gov't-standard-format resume, that listed hours? If you're a starting lawyer, you're expected to bill a lot of hours. Congrats, don't waste space on your resume with useless crap that begs for deeper investigation when you could focus on something that's actually a real benefit to the potental employer. If you can't figure out how to work in the "I billed a ton" fact while answering the myraid of questions that interviewers will throw at you, I'll be shocked.

[rayiner]

This sounds only a little bit better than putting your LSAT score on your resume.

[270910]

This sounds only a little bit better than putting your LSAT score on your resume.

You could do both, and really make sure employers know you have your priorities in line?

[LurkerNoMore]

Dumb idea. As a summer associate, you were probably highly inefficient. Showing high billables might backfire, indicating that it took you a stupid long time to do a stupid easy task.

This.

1. Just because your hours were billed to a client doesn't mean they were collected.
2. Even if they were, small firm economics are different from BigLaw/MidLaw. How many of your hours were billed out will have no relationship to how many would be billed out at another firm. And, like NYAssociate said, your number may be read as a sign you are terribly inefficient.
3. Firms are in control of your hours, so what you bill really doesn't reflect on you at all.

[dresden doll]

these posters are just jealous. any hiring partner would definitely be interested. put it as the first bullet under your summer firm.

THIS.

[Matthies]

For the love of god NO

[dresden doll]

For the love of god NO

Cease with your jealousy.

[270910]

For the love of god NO

Cease with your jealousy.

OFF TOPIC TROLLING MODDDSSSSSSSS

IAFG: No snark.

booyakasha: No +1ing snark.

dresden doll: No agreeing with snark.

Matthies: No calling out snark. It is not on topic to mention that which is off topic.

Further transgression will result in being placed in the stockades.