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Corporate associate at V50 in secondary market. I'm going to bill just shy of 290 hours this month. Tried my best but failed to reach the vaunted 300.

Most in a week was 73 (I know, not that hardcore).

Most in a day was 16 (for an in-person closing).

I have heard of an M&A associate at SullCrom billing 450 in a month.

What is your daily/weekly/monthly record?

490 in a month. Quit promptly thereafter.

Similar numbers to OP.

Most in a month: 275
Most in a week: 81
Most in a day 17.5

Lit Secondary MarketL

Month: 250
Week: 70ish
Day: 16 or 17

Anonymous User wrote:490 in a month. Quit promptly thereafter.

How is this possible? You’d have to literally not sleep.

This is why you don’t go V5 kids.

Legitimately impressed by that 490 if it didn't include padding. Impressed in a fuck-this-job way.

Month: 315
Week: 97
Day: 22

For the day, I actually could have justified writing 24, but shifted some hours to the next day to avoid answering questions. Needless to say, all of those numbers are atypical, but I am usually good for one 300+ month per year.

Well at least this puts studying for the bar in perspective...

Month: 310
Week: 105
Day: 17

Love my life.

Month: 300
Week: 103
Day: 24 (yes, that's correct)

Corporate associate.
Month: 324 (no padding)
Week: 89 (included three back-to-back all nighters, was honestly concerned my heart would stop/I may die)
Day: 23 (would have been 24 but I ate food at some point)

Never. Again.

West Coast V100, mix of litigation and investigations/white collar work:

Month: 270
Week: 80 (not including travel); 93 (including travel)
Day: 19.75

I would appreciate some in-house folks estimating their worst months ever (while in-house) and posting here, just so we all realize how ridiculously terrible biglaw is and to keep these biglaw numbers in perspective.

NYC V5, M&A midlevel

Month: 402
Week: 105
Day: 23

I did 460 in a month at trial a few months ago. It honestly wasn’t that terrible once the numbness set in. 8 to midnight every single day—a couple of all-nighters offset a few 12 hour-days.

Then I billed 75 hours last week in the office and nearly died. It’s a totally different experience.

My numbers arent that bad — 250 in a month, but 3 months in a row of that (including at least one 20 hour day per month) and Im ready to say fuck this. The seniors seem to have it much worse. You need to be a broken human being to not be looking to split, I think.

My worst week was 90 — im good for one of those about every 6 months, and every time I spend the next free moment applying to gtfo.

Second Year Corporate Associate:

Worst month: 240
Worst week: 85
Worst day: 20

I don't understand how people bill more. I felt physically and mentally terrible during my worst week and month.

Ouch. Those numbers sound terrible. V100 specialty group. And before anyone says I’m getting fired, i received a good bonus and raise (black box), so I don’t think I’m going anywhere soon (the numbers below occurred in year 2)

Month: 195
Week: 70
Day: 15

Thing I’ve found is when you’re on a 250 billable month you can at least just settle in, hunker down and go on autopilot knowing your life is gonna be dedicated to work and not delude yourself into thinking you’ll have nights and weekends to do things. There are 160 hour months that are more stressful because you’re living in constant fear of your phone buzzing and not knowing when everything is gonna hit. Those months I end up wasting a ton of time sitting around in the office waiting for work, which fucking sucks because I coulda been using downtime for something more useful and you’ll have a ton of days where you end only billing like 6 hours but are in the office till 10 because you don’t get a big drop of work until 6:30 (depending on who you work for on a given matter some people are better or worse about this).

As for the people doing 400 hour months I have no clue how you don’t just drop dead from lack of sleep and such. If I’m on a 14-15 hour day I forget to eat sometimes because I’m so worried about all the shit I gotta do until it’s like 9 pm and I realize I’m starving.

2,400 last year. Little time for anything not job-related. I am always working/billing!

Former Latham corporate associate here. Left after 2 years to go in-house.

Latham (from what I can remember):
Month: 280ish
Week: 100
Day: 21

In-house:
Month: Lol really hard to say. Probably like 170
Week: Probably 50
Day: 10

smoked wrote:I would appreciate some in-house folks estimating their worst months ever (while in-house) and posting here, just so we all realize how ridiculously terrible biglaw is and to keep these biglaw numbers in perspective.

I think I go over the standard 8 hours/day 3-4 times a month, but usually only by 1-2 hours more than usual. Sometimes I work in the evenings or weekends, but only because I'm making up for time I spent during the workday on personal stuff.

At a corporate/IP boutique now - my wost weeks/months/days were at a midlaw firm:

Month: 350ish (can't remember the actual number, but it was somewhere in there)
Week: 147
Day: 22.3 (I literally fell asleep on my keyboard on days 2 and 3 of a 3 day all-nighter, otherwise these would have been 24x2)

I was legitimately concerned that I would die after each of these. Maybe I'm just not as tough as others, but I don't get how anyone can work at that type of pace for more than 1-2 years.

All of these were as a 1st year at a V50 (transactional)
Month: 307
Week: 86 (although I did 75 one week M-F, which was way worse)
Day: 21

sopranorleone wrote:Former Latham corporate associate here. Left after 2 years to go in-house.

Latham (from what I can remember):
Month: 280ish
Week: 100
Day: 21

In-house:
Month: Lol really hard to say. Probably like 170
Week: Probably 50
Day: 10

Are those in house numbers billed or worked? I didn’t think in house had to bill.

I’m a lit associate at a V30 in NYC:

Month: 255
Week: ~70
Day: 14

I billed 2,250 last year and 150 pro bono with about 100-150 of non-billable firm projects, pitches etc.