120-90-90-60 Forum

[Anonymous User]

The above have been my January - April hours. How worried should I be?

I'm a first year corporate associate at a small satellite outpost. Our group is five partners and two associates (including me; the other associate is like a sixth year). I would guess that about 75% of my work comes from one partner. Since Dec. we have not had any large deals come through; just small discrete projects; periodic filings, etc. I have not reached out to other associates/partners in different offices but I likely should. Obviously I have never turned down work. Some A lot days a bill zero hours, somedays its 9 or so, most days lately have been like 4.

I know that corporate can be boom/bust but this seems like a prolonged bust. However, I have nothing to compare against since I'm a first year.

Interested in thoughts.

[Johann]

Just keep your head down, continue doing good work, being nice, open to non-billable biz dev. That's all you can do. Even if the legal economy is sputtering - you're at the type of shop that will be least likely to lay you off and lateralling somewhere new makes you the odd man out and probably first to go if this corporate hiccup continues.

Fwiw, you are still profitable at even 120ish hours a month. Though continued 60s are a bit worrisome.

[reasonable_man]

Have you addressed your lack of work to the partner that you work for or one of the senior associates?

I wouldn't start reaching out to random offices and/or partners at different offices for work. That could be a disaster for you.