COVID-19’s effect on your practice check in Forum

[Anonymous User]

Environmental litigation/counseling senior associate. Incoming work has slowed down; budgets tightened on matters; pencils down on certain projects.

[Anonymous User]

Patent prosecution & counseling in high tech space. Larger clients are full steam ahead, but I have some startup clients that have completely slashed non-essential spending and told us to put all patent work on pause.

[Anonymous User]

Anyone in Houston, especially for transactions? How bad are things getting at law firms with oil now hitting negative prices?

[Anonymous User]

I work in M&A at a V20 firm in NY. Mid-level. Have billed 9 hours this month so far. Anyone else on my level? I asked for work but there doesn’t seem to be any to go around. Never gotten a bad review before either so hopefully they’re not setting me up for a stealth layoff.

[Anonymous User]

I work in M&A at a V20 firm in NY. Mid-level. Have billed 9 hours this month so far. Anyone else on my level? I asked for work but there doesn’t seem to be any to go around. Never gotten a bad review before either so hopefully they’re not setting me up for a stealth layoff.

How do you deal with low billing hours? Anyone can chime in.

I've run out of things to do. Not because of the virus necessarily but because there's a lot of friction in workflow here (managing ptr is so busy that he needs constant reminders, he keeps pushing things off, and only some case strategies, drafts, etc. get approved before the last minute).

[ChickenSalad]

I work in M&A at a V20 firm in NY. Mid-level. Have billed 9 hours this month so far. Anyone else on my level? I asked for work but there doesn’t seem to be any to go around. Never gotten a bad review before either so hopefully they’re not setting me up for a stealth layoff.

How do you deal with low billing hours? Anyone can chime in.

I've run out of things to do. Not because of the virus necessarily but because there's a lot of friction in workflow here (managing ptr is so busy that he needs constant reminders, he keeps pushing things off, and only some case strategies, drafts, etc. get approved before the last minute).

If you get any billable hour credit for pro bono work, business development, or CLE, bank all those hours (my firm gives 50, which isn’t much but it’s something). Might as well knock out some online CLEs so you don’t have those hanging over you later.

[Anonymous User]

Antitrust litigator (junior) at a west coast AmLaw 50 firm. Overall hours are the same, though some clients have expressed concern and a desire to cut costs. Feeling is things won’t change much.

[Anonymous User]

Project finance/renewables (both tax equity and debt) remain very, very busy. Both current deal flow and future pipeline are as strong as ever. I had my busiest year last year and am on pace to easily beat it this year.

[Anonymous User]

I work in M&A at a V20 firm in NY. Mid-level. Have billed 9 hours this month so far. Anyone else on my level? I asked for work but there doesn’t seem to be any to go around. Never gotten a bad review before either so hopefully they’re not setting me up for a stealth layoff.

How do you deal with low billing hours? Anyone can chime in.

I've run out of things to do. Not because of the virus necessarily but because there's a lot of friction in workflow here (managing ptr is so busy that he needs constant reminders, he keeps pushing things off, and only some case strategies, drafts, etc. get approved before the last minute).

Also M&A, V10 non-NY market. I've billed 7 hours this month. The anxiety of the stealth layoff has abated only because 1) I realized there's nothing I can do about it, and 2) when I reached out to the parter I'm closest to and mentioned how quiet I am he asked me to please be patient in a tone that was surprisingly concerned and sincere sounding. Here's hoping, I guess. I'm bored as hell though, and even the pro bono/BD stuff I chip in on is hard to get enthusiastic about.

[Anonymous User]

Also M&A, V10 non-NY market. I've billed 7 hours this month. The anxiety of the stealth layoff has abated only because 1) I realized there's nothing I can do about it, and 2) when I reached out to the parter I'm closest to and mentioned how quiet I am he asked me to please be patient in a tone that was surprisingly concerned and sincere sounding. Here's hoping, I guess. I'm bored as hell though, and even the pro bono/BD stuff I chip in on is hard to get enthusiastic about.

Have you reached out to help with your firm's restructuring work? At my V10 in NY, BK is doing trainings to temporarily repurpose corporate associates.

[Anonymous User]

V20. Bank reg and transactional. Reg practice about normal. Transactional down a bit but not dead.

[Anonymous User]

4th year associate at a well known lit boutique. Hours kept steady until beginning of April, then started to fall. May will be very slow. A majority of my matters have been affected in some sense, either by clients forcing revised budgets and withdrawing appeals or the courts extending deadlines and granting continuances so that all major motion practice and trial activity has been pushed to late summer/early fall. Work will continue to trickle, but definitely thinking there will be some slow months ahead.

[Anonymous User]

V20. Bank reg and transactional. Reg practice about normal. Transactional down a bit but not dead.

My old V20 finreg group is also apparently as busy as ever.

[Anonymous User]

Comp and benefits associate from before.

Transactional work and high margin stuff (equity comp) has slowed down.

Day to day compliance is very busy.

One day left in April and I’m at over 210 hours or so.

[Anonymous User]

V5 NY securities practice junior: my hours are down slightly but the variability is up dramatically. Most deals being done now are on very compressed timelines so its either 2-4 billable hour days or 12-17 with not a whole lot in between. My understanding is the other midlevels/juniors are seeing similar variability while the seniors are just constantly swamped.

[Anonymous User]

I work in M&A at a V20 firm in NY. Mid-level. Have billed 9 hours this month so far. Anyone else on my level? I asked for work but there doesn’t seem to be any to go around. Never gotten a bad review before either so hopefully they’re not setting me up for a stealth layoff.

How do you deal with low billing hours? Anyone can chime in.

I've run out of things to do. Not because of the virus necessarily but because there's a lot of friction in workflow here (managing ptr is so busy that he needs constant reminders, he keeps pushing things off, and only some case strategies, drafts, etc. get approved before the last minute).

Also M&A, V10 non-NY market. I've billed 7 hours this month. The anxiety of the stealth layoff has abated only because 1) I realized there's nothing I can do about it, and 2) when I reached out to the parter I'm closest to and mentioned how quiet I am he asked me to please be patient in a tone that was surprisingly concerned and sincere sounding. Here's hoping, I guess. I'm bored as hell though, and even the pro bono/BD stuff I chip in on is hard to get enthusiastic about.

I'm in M&A outside NY at a V100 and I billed 50 hours this month, but everything has died on the M&A side. I billed 2200 last year and had 5-6 deals already in initial stages and they all went dark. Think M&A is going to be hit for a while.

[Anonymous User]

What were people's hours in April?

I'm a V40 real estate associate in a major market and was at about 100, but a lot of that was client alert stuff that the firm counts towards bonus.

[Anonymous User]

I work in M&A at a V20 firm in NY. Mid-level. Have billed 9 hours this month so far. Anyone else on my level? I asked for work but there doesn’t seem to be any to go around. Never gotten a bad review before either so hopefully they’re not setting me up for a stealth layoff.

M&A v20 midlevel in non-NY market. The first 3 weeks of the quarantine were OK because all of the deals I had that were really going decided to go ahead and close. Since then I've billed virtually nothing other than a few discrete governance projects. Everyone is my group says they're in the same boat. My firm has waived caps on non-billable hour projects (pro bono etc) so I'm just doing as much of that as I can.

If your firm supports bringing in your own pro bono work, start reaching out to local nonprofits and asking them if they need new governance documents or want a review of their bylaws, agreements, etc. Good source of hours and as least it's transactional work.

[Anonymous User]

185 for April. Big firm labor and employment.

Litigation (95% of typical workflow) was down to almost nothing. But more counseling work this month than I’ve done in probably the last two years combined (CARES, return to work, general COVID stuff, etc.)

[Anonymous User]

The tax associates in my group averaged over 200 hours in April. Mostly due to COVID-19.

[Anonymous User]

Has anyone else’s work completely dried out? I was busy until two weeks ago and now I have billed 10 hours this week... Should I panic?

Asking generally and not practice group specifically.

[Anonymous User]

Debt Capital Markets - 250+ in April. My firm is busy as hell-would love a break but am afraid of any break lasting too long.

[Anonymous User]

V40 life sciences mid level - 275 in March, 240 in April and May is on a similar pace... everyday is the same and it’s oh so brutal.

[Anonymous User]

Any idea on how this will effect travel in the future? In other words, will people start to opt for zoom meetings rather than flying to dallas for a day?

[Anonymous User]

Real estate, non-NY major, V100. April was about 140 or so billable, plus another 10-15 of credited hours. Seems to be slowing, but most clients appear not to have given up hope on deals. Many things remain paused as folks try to assess the long-term impact on the markets. CRE office dev and asset management looks to be set for a rocky road ahead.