Has Biglaw Part-Time Ever Worked? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Does anyone here know of any instances in which moving to a part-time/flex schedule has ever worked for someone? All of the stories I've heard have been, "you work the same but get paid less." Curious if anyone has any success stories.

[Anonymous User]

Yes, I have a colleague who has worked a reduced schedule of a percentage of the regular billable quota for several years and is pleased with it. She explained to me how it does and doesn't work, in her experience.

1. Working an X% schedule for the year does not mean you work an X% schedule every day, week, or even month. You may still have the occasional 200 hour month. If you are responsible for certain things, you don't just clock out because reduced schedule.

2. You manage your schedule at the macro level by saying yes or no to being staffed on a matter. Once staffed, you should expect to fulfill all the required responsibilities. The biggest value of a formal reduced schedule is that it allows you to turn down work that is peripheral to your main or preferred type of work without any stigma, assuming you are generally making the reduced hours. My colleague has been successful in making approximately her hours without exceeding them much.

3. To pull it off, you have to be really valued by one or more partners for your skill set, specialized knowledge, great work product, or something.

[ConfusedNYer]

I had a family member who pulled this off successfully after her first maternity leave. I was talking to her recently (about her time at the firm in general) and her explanation seems to match up pretty well with the above posters. Specifically she mentioned that she worked primarily for one partner who everyone hated but she didn't mind. As a result, she made her self more valuable than generic associate X even on a reduced schedule. I'm not sure how successful she would have been at avoiding being dragged into more work or just kind of forced out without that selling point.

[Elston Gunn]

I’ve seen people manage it in the specific sense of having a much reduced facetime expectation where they were legitimately able to leave at 4 almost every day. In reality they ended up working pretty much a full schedule (and getting their salary trued up), but that ability to get home and see your young kid can be really valuable anyway.

[papermateflair]

I worked with someone who went on a 50% schedule as a senior associate, and they were able to make it work because the partner fully supported them and would do literally anything to keep them at the firm - they were integral to the partner's practice, close with the clients, and the partner had already lost a mid-level associate who went in-house and didn't want to start over with a bunch of first/second years. The senior associate was VERY clear about what the expectations were (50% meant 50%! and they did most/all of their work in the office, and worked one full day and then half days and didn't come in on Fridays), and the nature of the work they did meant that other folks could handle any emergencies that came up (or, if they were needed to do things in the office at different times, the senior associate would adjust the schedule the rest of the week). It only worked because the partner was supportive and the senior associate was very good at drawing boundaries, and of course the nature of the work (they weren't involved in transactions) and number of other folks in the group meant that there was good overflow coverage. The senior associate was very clear that this wasn't going to be a "paid 50%, work 90%" situation too.

[Anonymous User]

Girl at my firm works 80%, is paid 80% and works remotely.

Right now she is actually working 100% and getting paid 80%. However, she should have more opportunity to turn down work later to average out the year.

[impactplayer]

Girl at my firm works 80%, is paid 80% and works remotely.

Right now she is actually working 100% and getting paid 80%. However, she should have more opportunity to turn down work later to average out the year.

If she were to end up at 100% (or some other number higher than 80%) at the end of the year, would the firm gross her up for the difference? That's what happens at my firm, but curious if it works like that elsewhere. Also, working remotely? Damn, I wish I had that.