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http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... =+billable

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Well, if anyone wants to comment here, it's welcome!

SYoshi11 wrote:By all accounts, BigLaw crushes your soul. I'm wondering though, what the specific quantitative needs of BigLaw firms are.

I understand the billable hour requirement is usually between 1800-2250 hours. So, if you have to bill 2150 hours, how long are you actually in the office/at work? Or, I guess a better question to ask: for each hour in the office, how much of that hour counts as "billable" ?

that depends. from what i hear its better to use percentages and i hear that somewhere between 80-90% of your time will be billable.

It really depends on what you are doing. Your typical, work-to-do-but-no-emergencies day, you'll probably be in the 75% range (so in the office from 9:00 am-7:00 pm and billing 7-8 hours). If you're slammed or have a pressing deadline, that probably goes up to 95% (and the office hours go up to 12-14). If you're travelling for due diligence or depositions or whatnot, then it's probably 99%. The aggregate annual percentage really just depends on how many of those fire drills and/or trips you have in a year.

(I did a 5-6 year stint as a litigator in Biglaw. My billed hours/yield probably went something like this: 1900/70%, 2050/85%, 2500/95%, 2250/85%, 2300/90%, on pace for 2400/95%. The third and sixth years included multiple trials and lots and lots of travel.)

[EDITED TO FIX A SUBSTANTIVE TYPO]