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Preface that this question may be dumb and maybe I'm missing something obvious.

I'm at a firm that has "unlimited vacation," like many firms these days, and also closes for certain holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, etc.). The hours expectation is 2000, which works out to 40 billables a week for 50 weeks a year. Of course, firm holidays aren't counted separately from that spare ten days, so essentially there's... Actually no allowance in the hours goal for time off outside of those holidays? The firm is closed about eleven weekdays out of the year.

My question is how the hell a person can manage to feel okay not working on Christmas, or taking a half day to see a doctor, or even taking a day to recover from food poisoning, when doing so just digs you deeper into the hours hole. I don't know if I'm making sense.

I know intellectually that the obvious solution is to bill a lot more than 40 hours a week to build a cushion for time off, but I very rarely have enough work to do so-- I'm lucky if I hit 40 each week in a month, and asking for more work only creates a deluge of short-term requests (which doesn't actually help, since I couldn't physically take on all of those projects within the time allotted even if I didn't sleep for a week). Then we're back to square one.

I've tried to bring this up with my department head in terms of asking for an adjustment on the staffing dial, and have only been told my work speed is good, that I'm doing great work, and that the partners don't have to write off much or any of my time, which... Doesn't help me with my problem.

In summary, I find myself unable to "get ahead" on hours and have no idea what to do about it. I haven't seen my family in a long time and my parents aren't medically well, so I'm racking my brain here on how to fix this. Any advice?

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:16 pm

I know intellectually that the obvious solution is to bill a lot more than 40 hours a week to build a cushion for time off, but I very rarely have enough work to do so-- I'm lucky if I hit 40 each week in a month, and asking for more work only creates a deluge of short-term requests (which doesn't actually help, since I couldn't physically take on all of those projects within the time allotted even if I didn't sleep for a week). Then we're back to square one.

From this paragraph alone, there is clearly extra work to be done. But you're afraid of not being able to do the work within the time alotted, so you stay within a zone of work that means your hours don't increase. So, I think you either have a time management issue that you should fix. Learn to take on enough work that your hours increase, but not so much that you're overwhelmed, or continue to do the same volume of work at a slower pace to pad hours. Obviously, the last choice is unethical, but it seems like the only option if you're not going to risk having more work to do in a less than ideal time (which seems like the nature of biglaw).

what is your practice area? there's a gap between 40 hours and being so busy that it's literally impossible to meet all your short-term requests, and having an hours cushion means working in that zone. I find it a bit odd that your experience has been so binary, wherein asking for more work has just left you underwater to the point where you physically can't do the work.

WFGhallager wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:31 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:16 pm

I know intellectually that the obvious solution is to bill a lot more than 40 hours a week to build a cushion for time off, but I very rarely have enough work to do so-- I'm lucky if I hit 40 each week in a month, and asking for more work only creates a deluge of short-term requests (which doesn't actually help, since I couldn't physically take on all of those projects within the time allotted even if I didn't sleep for a week). Then we're back to square one.

From this paragraph alone, there is clearly extra work to be done. But you're afraid of not being able to do the work within the time alotted, so you stay within a zone of work that means your hours don't increase. So, I think you either have a time management issue that you should fix. Learn to take on enough work that your hours increase, but not so much that you're overwhelmed, or continue to do the same volume of work at a slower pace to pad hours. Obviously, the last choice is unethical, but it seems like the only option if you're not going to risk having more work to do in a less than ideal time (which seems like the nature of biglaw).

I'm asking for advice on HOW to do the exact thing that you're telling me to just "learn" to do.

I would love to have a volume of work that is somewhere between the minimum and overwhelming, but when I mention that I could use more work (to an older associate, to the department head, it doesn't matter who I talk to), it doesn't lead to being staffed on more matters or any larger, long-term projects-- just seventeen people from assorted offices across the country with a task each that would take around four or five hours and they all want results within three days. Often I already had some things to do that week, just not enough things to hit 40, so this becomes an overload. I try to ask if there's flexibility on any of those deadlines and the answer is always no. I obviously can't and don't refuse any of this work. So then I don't sleep for the next several days, I might bill 50 or 60 hours that week, and then two weeks later I'm back in the exact same spot. The slow weeks eat away at the weeks where the floodgates are open. Again, I've tried to ask to be staffed on more matters so as to have additional steadier work, but it isn't happening. There might be "extra work to be done," but it's not being allocated in a way that permits me to build up extra hours.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:31 pm

what is your practice area? there's a gap between 40 hours and being so busy that it's literally impossible to meet all your short-term requests, and having an hours cushion means working in that zone. I find it a bit odd that your experience has been so binary, wherein asking for more work has just left you underwater to the point where you physically can't do the work.

I'm in litigation, which is why this situation makes no damn sense to me. The natural solution would be to get staffed on more cases, but when I've asked for that and mentioned I have capacity, the situation I described in my last response happens. I get a whole mess of shorter projects from partners in offices across the country (obviously without any intermediary coordination), work so many hours I think I'll collapse to get them done, and then end up slow again two weeks later.

Yeah, this "earning" your time off/not really having paid vacation issue is one of the bad things about big law. If you want to go on vacation, you have to be going over your hours. If you're sick, you just make up the time by billing extra on a few other days. In some groups you don't have a choice (there's so much work you're always building a bank) but in others it truly is difficult to get more than 40 hours a week, and that makes it hard to relax.

It takes a while in some groups to build up the amount of work so that you can build up a bank for later but not be completely underwater (I assume you're a first year). It sounds like your group has the work, and maybe you need to be slightly more targeted when asking for extra work. Instead of asking all of the partners in your group or asking a senior to let folks know you can help on things, ask one or two partners, see if you get a response, and then just do *their* last minute project. If you're struggling to hit 40 hours/week, then you probably do have time to take on a 5 hour emergency project in any given day, or over the weekend.

I suppose at some point you have to decide if you are happy not building up a bank and taking a couple of weeks of vacation anyway and not caring if you come in 50 hours under your target, or gunning to hit your hours by taking on extra work and making some weeks more difficult for you (this probably depends on how long you want to stay at your firm). The one thing I'd keep an eye on is whether the partners you work for are happy with your current pace - if they don't care and understand that associates in your group may come in at 1950 instead of 2000 hours because of the nature of the work, that's one thing, but if they expect you to hit 2000, then you really do have to work more some weeks so that you can take off 3 hours for a doctor's appointment or not work when you're sick.

And yes, this creates unhealthy lawyers who are always billing, who work on weekends, who don't take off when they're sick.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:58 pm

WFGhallager wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:31 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:16 pm

I know intellectually that the obvious solution is to bill a lot more than 40 hours a week to build a cushion for time off, but I very rarely have enough work to do so-- I'm lucky if I hit 40 each week in a month, and asking for more work only creates a deluge of short-term requests (which doesn't actually help, since I couldn't physically take on all of those projects within the time allotted even if I didn't sleep for a week). Then we're back to square one.

From this paragraph alone, there is clearly extra work to be done. But you're afraid of not being able to do the work within the time alotted, so you stay within a zone of work that means your hours don't increase. So, I think you either have a time management issue that you should fix. Learn to take on enough work that your hours increase, but not so much that you're overwhelmed, or continue to do the same volume of work at a slower pace to pad hours. Obviously, the last choice is unethical, but it seems like the only option if you're not going to risk having more work to do in a less than ideal time (which seems like the nature of biglaw).

I'm asking for advice on HOW to do the exact thing that you're telling me to just "learn" to do.

I would love to have a volume of work that is somewhere between the minimum and overwhelming, but when I mention that I could use more work (to an older associate, to the department head, it doesn't matter who I talk to), it doesn't lead to being staffed on more matters or any larger, long-term projects-- just seventeen people from assorted offices across the country with a task each that would take around four or five hours and they all want results within three days. Often I already had some things to do that week, just not enough things to hit 40, so this becomes an overload. I try to ask if there's flexibility on any of those deadlines and the answer is always no. I obviously can't and don't refuse any of this work. So then I don't sleep for the next several days, I might bill 50 or 60 hours that week, and then two weeks later I'm back in the exact same spot. The slow weeks eat away at the weeks where the floodgates are open. Again, I've tried to ask to be staffed on more matters so as to have additional steadier work, but it isn't happening. There might be "extra work to be done," but it's not being allocated in a way that permits me to build up extra hours.

I can understand OP here. It's one thing to tell the various partners you have capacity and to get a few responses to get some extra billable hours, but its another thing when seventeen of them all respond that they have a project for you but it needs to be done asap. Accepting just one or two of the projects and turning down the others can create some bad blood between the partners whose work you turned down which could potentially discourage OP from asking in the first place.

Unfortunately OP the only way I can see out of this is to get staffed on one/a few giant matters/cases, which could be out of your control. For many they can't take this vicious billable hour cycle you are in and leave law firms altogether.

It’s going to vary by year. I’ve had years where I was insanely busy early on and then rode the wave of slowness (I calculated after April I only needed to average 120 hours the rest of the year and never sought work; came in 30 above target and was never questioned).

Other years you have to make it happen. If you are planning a vacation (def take one), know that you’ll need four 50-hour or two 60-hour weeks to make up. Start taking on those projects now knowing that it’ll be worth it when you’re off.

Keep in mind, first year bonus is 15k and many first years I know don’t hit it. It’s not worth killing your self over it if your firm isn’t going to care if you’re 1920 or 2000.

hangtime813 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 10:12 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:58 pm

WFGhallager wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:31 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:16 pm

I know intellectually that the obvious solution is to bill a lot more than 40 hours a week to build a cushion for time off, but I very rarely have enough work to do so-- I'm lucky if I hit 40 each week in a month, and asking for more work only creates a deluge of short-term requests (which doesn't actually help, since I couldn't physically take on all of those projects within the time allotted even if I didn't sleep for a week). Then we're back to square one.

From this paragraph alone, there is clearly extra work to be done. But you're afraid of not being able to do the work within the time alotted, so you stay within a zone of work that means your hours don't increase. So, I think you either have a time management issue that you should fix. Learn to take on enough work that your hours increase, but not so much that you're overwhelmed, or continue to do the same volume of work at a slower pace to pad hours. Obviously, the last choice is unethical, but it seems like the only option if you're not going to risk having more work to do in a less than ideal time (which seems like the nature of biglaw).

I'm asking for advice on HOW to do the exact thing that you're telling me to just "learn" to do.

I would love to have a volume of work that is somewhere between the minimum and overwhelming, but when I mention that I could use more work (to an older associate, to the department head, it doesn't matter who I talk to), it doesn't lead to being staffed on more matters or any larger, long-term projects-- just seventeen people from assorted offices across the country with a task each that would take around four or five hours and they all want results within three days. Often I already had some things to do that week, just not enough things to hit 40, so this becomes an overload. I try to ask if there's flexibility on any of those deadlines and the answer is always no. I obviously can't and don't refuse any of this work. So then I don't sleep for the next several days, I might bill 50 or 60 hours that week, and then two weeks later I'm back in the exact same spot. The slow weeks eat away at the weeks where the floodgates are open. Again, I've tried to ask to be staffed on more matters so as to have additional steadier work, but it isn't happening. There might be "extra work to be done," but it's not being allocated in a way that permits me to build up extra hours.

I can understand OP here. It's one thing to tell the various partners you have capacity and to get a few responses to get some extra billable hours, but its another thing when seventeen of them all respond that they have a project for you but it needs to be done asap. Accepting just one or two of the projects and turning down the others can create some bad blood between the partners whose work you turned down which could potentially discourage OP from asking in the first place.

Unfortunately OP the only way I can see out of this is to get staffed on one/a few giant matters/cases, which could be out of your control. For many they can't take this vicious billable hour cycle you are in and leave law firms altogether.

Staffing person, I have capacity to take on X amount of work.
Not "pls give me work."

Problem solved.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 10:31 pm

It’s going to vary by year. I’ve had years where I was insanely busy early on and then rode the wave of slowness (I calculated after April I only needed to average 120 hours the rest of the year and never sought work; came in 30 above target and was never questioned).

Other years you have to make it happen. If you are planning a vacation (def take one), know that you’ll need four 50-hour or two 60-hour weeks to make up. Start taking on those projects now knowing that it’ll be worth it when you’re off.

Keep in mind, first year bonus is 15k and many first years I know don’t hit it. It’s not worth killing your self over it if your firm isn’t going to care if you’re 1920 or 2000.

I get the impression, from how they talk about hours ("no one has been fired for not making hours ONCE") they care way too much and would care even more if I took a vacation and then didn't hit hours.

The way you put it is actually really helpful, though-- do my best to "bank" even just enough hours so that taking a week off doesn't create a deficit. Then at least I'm no worse off than before when I come back, even if there's not much wiggle room.

WFGhallager wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 11:31 pm

hangtime813 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 10:12 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:58 pm

WFGhallager wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:31 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:16 pm

I know intellectually that the obvious solution is to bill a lot more than 40 hours a week to build a cushion for time off, but I very rarely have enough work to do so-- I'm lucky if I hit 40 each week in a month, and asking for more work only creates a deluge of short-term requests (which doesn't actually help, since I couldn't physically take on all of those projects within the time allotted even if I didn't sleep for a week). Then we're back to square one.

From this paragraph alone, there is clearly extra work to be done. But you're afraid of not being able to do the work within the time alotted, so you stay within a zone of work that means your hours don't increase. So, I think you either have a time management issue that you should fix. Learn to take on enough work that your hours increase, but not so much that you're overwhelmed, or continue to do the same volume of work at a slower pace to pad hours. Obviously, the last choice is unethical, but it seems like the only option if you're not going to risk having more work to do in a less than ideal time (which seems like the nature of biglaw).

I'm asking for advice on HOW to do the exact thing that you're telling me to just "learn" to do.

I would love to have a volume of work that is somewhere between the minimum and overwhelming, but when I mention that I could use more work (to an older associate, to the department head, it doesn't matter who I talk to), it doesn't lead to being staffed on more matters or any larger, long-term projects-- just seventeen people from assorted offices across the country with a task each that would take around four or five hours and they all want results within three days. Often I already had some things to do that week, just not enough things to hit 40, so this becomes an overload. I try to ask if there's flexibility on any of those deadlines and the answer is always no. I obviously can't and don't refuse any of this work. So then I don't sleep for the next several days, I might bill 50 or 60 hours that week, and then two weeks later I'm back in the exact same spot. The slow weeks eat away at the weeks where the floodgates are open. Again, I've tried to ask to be staffed on more matters so as to have additional steadier work, but it isn't happening. There might be "extra work to be done," but it's not being allocated in a way that permits me to build up extra hours.

I can understand OP here. It's one thing to tell the various partners you have capacity and to get a few responses to get some extra billable hours, but its another thing when seventeen of them all respond that they have a project for you but it needs to be done asap. Accepting just one or two of the projects and turning down the others can create some bad blood between the partners whose work you turned down which could potentially discourage OP from asking in the first place.

Unfortunately OP the only way I can see out of this is to get staffed on one/a few giant matters/cases, which could be out of your control. For many they can't take this vicious billable hour cycle you are in and leave law firms altogether.

Staffing person, I have capacity to take on X amount of work.
Not "pls give me work."

Problem solved.

Looking at your post history, I am really disinclined to pay attention to your responses. Thanks anyway.

For the benefit of anyone else who wants to know, we do not have a "staffing person," you're just expected to tell "someone" you need more work. And even if I DO say that I have room for approximately X hours this week or this month (which I have), the floodgates open anyway. I have a suspicion that the department head just sends a mass email to everyone he can think of asking them to give me work directly, but I have no evidence of that.

Is 2k your minimum to get a bonus, or just a target (but you’ll likely get a market bonus either way)? If the latter, you’re getting the kind of reviews you apparently are, and aren’t turning down much work, I really wouldn’t stress about this. Just take a week and accept you might only hit 1950. (You can even do the crazy not sleeping thing for two weeks in November/December if you really need to.)

I saw you say they’d be mad if you came in below target even though you took a vacation. If that’s really true—that you work with people who are so focused on hours they see taking any vacation in a year as a luxury—you honestly should try to lateral ASAP. But I suspect it wouldn’t be as big a deal as you think. You *need* to take vacation for your mental health. You will burn out otherwise.

Is taking on pro bono matters not an option?

In addition to the advice to take on pro bono matters, how are you going about asking for work?

It sounds like you're just saying "I need work" instead of approaching a specific partner and asking whether they need an associate for any of their matters. Keep an eye on your firm's new matters/conflicts checks. Ask partners/seniors about the matters they're working on. The more specific you can be, the better. If you just ask for "work," you're not going to get staffed to a new matter; you're going to get exactly the spot projects you've been getting.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:58 pm

WFGhallager wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:31 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:16 pm

I know intellectually that the obvious solution is to bill a lot more than 40 hours a week to build a cushion for time off, but I very rarely have enough work to do so-- I'm lucky if I hit 40 each week in a month, and asking for more work only creates a deluge of short-term requests (which doesn't actually help, since I couldn't physically take on all of those projects within the time allotted even if I didn't sleep for a week). Then we're back to square one.

From this paragraph alone, there is clearly extra work to be done. But you're afraid of not being able to do the work within the time alotted, so you stay within a zone of work that means your hours don't increase. So, I think you either have a time management issue that you should fix. Learn to take on enough work that your hours increase, but not so much that you're overwhelmed, or continue to do the same volume of work at a slower pace to pad hours. Obviously, the last choice is unethical, but it seems like the only option if you're not going to risk having more work to do in a less than ideal time (which seems like the nature of biglaw).

I'm asking for advice on HOW to do the exact thing that you're telling me to just "learn" to do.

I would love to have a volume of work that is somewhere between the minimum and overwhelming, but when I mention that I could use more work (to an older associate, to the department head, it doesn't matter who I talk to), it doesn't lead to being staffed on more matters or any larger, long-term projects-- just seventeen people from assorted offices across the country with a task each that would take around four or five hours and they all want results within three days. Often I already had some things to do that week, just not enough things to hit 40, so this becomes an overload. I try to ask if there's flexibility on any of those deadlines and the answer is always no. I obviously can't and don't refuse any of this work. So then I don't sleep for the next several days, I might bill 50 or 60 hours that week, and then two weeks later I'm back in the exact same spot. The slow weeks eat away at the weeks where the floodgates are open. Again, I've tried to ask to be staffed on more matters so as to have additional steadier work, but it isn't happening. There might be "extra work to be done," but it's not being allocated in a way that permits me to build up extra hours.

I don't understand the bolded. A simple answer to your question is that the way to build up an hours cushion is to bill 50 or 60 hours in a week. Which is what you're doing. While that's a lot, and not a fun week, it shouldn't result in you not sleeping for several days.

In fact, this really sounds perfect for what you want. You're billing ~30 hours a week (I'm guessing), and then when you request it you can knock out a 60 hour week. Do a few of the 60 hour weeks (1 or 2 a month), and you've built up enough of a cushion to take a week off without losing momentum. Trust me, this is far better than getting staffed on additional matters and then getting hit with multiple 60+ weeks in a row because you've asked to be staffed.

I agree with the advice in this thread, but another option is to just take the vacation and figure it out on the back half of the year. I often find that it's easier for me, motivationally, to dig myself out of a hole than to build up a cushion in advance (though I think building up the cushion in advance is probably healthier).

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:05 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:31 pm

what is your practice area? there's a gap between 40 hours and being so busy that it's literally impossible to meet all your short-term requests, and having an hours cushion means working in that zone. I find it a bit odd that your experience has been so binary, wherein asking for more work has just left you underwater to the point where you physically can't do the work.

I'm in litigation, which is why this situation makes no damn sense to me. The natural solution would be to get staffed on more cases, but when I've asked for that and mentioned I have capacity, the situation I described in my last response happens. I get a whole mess of shorter projects from partners in offices across the country (obviously without any intermediary coordination), work so many hours I think I'll collapse to get them done, and then end up slow again two weeks later.

I'm confused. When you ask for more work and the "floodgates" open, you bill 50-60 hours a week, and that means don't sleep for several days, and think you'll collapse? How many hours are you actually working to bill that 50-60 hours a week? If you're working at an efficient pace, billing 50-60 hours a week shouldn't result in you not sleeping for several days and thinking you'll collapse. It's an average of 10-12 billed hours a day over 5 days. Billing 50-60 hours a week is the way you build up a cushion.

luxlisbon wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 27, 2021 1:44 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:05 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 25, 2021 8:31 pm

what is your practice area? there's a gap between 40 hours and being so busy that it's literally impossible to meet all your short-term requests, and having an hours cushion means working in that zone. I find it a bit odd that your experience has been so binary, wherein asking for more work has just left you underwater to the point where you physically can't do the work.

I'm in litigation, which is why this situation makes no damn sense to me. The natural solution would be to get staffed on more cases, but when I've asked for that and mentioned I have capacity, the situation I described in my last response happens. I get a whole mess of shorter projects from partners in offices across the country (obviously without any intermediary coordination), work so many hours I think I'll collapse to get them done, and then end up slow again two weeks later.

I'm confused. When you ask for more work and the "floodgates" open, you bill 50-60 hours a week, and that means don't sleep for several days, and think you'll collapse? How many hours are you actually working to bill that 50-60 hours a week? If you're working at an efficient pace, billing 50-60 hours a week shouldn't result in you not sleeping for several days and thinking you'll collapse. It's an average of 10-12 billed hours a day over 5 days. Billing 50-60 hours a week is the way you build up a cushion.

Yeah... 50-60 hours (especially closer to 50) is a slightly busier than normal week for many associates right now. Hell, I feel like I have no work during weeks when I’m in the 40-45 hour range.

I think (OP correct me if I am wrong) what the OP was trying to say is they ask for more work, there is a flood that results in them not sleeping much the next few days, but it only translates to 50-60 hours that week. As in, the blitz is very focused and not sustained, but it doesn't make as huge difference as it feels like it should (because, as everyone is pointing out, 50 hours spread over a full week is pretty normal).

If that is the case, I understand your frustration OP, but I encourage you to keep at it. Doing those small projects is how you get the trust of more senior associates and partners to be staffed on the larger projects, like being part of a litigation team--picking staffing for a litigation is sometimes a two to three year commitment to rely on that junior associate, you want to know they will do a good job. The small sprint projects are how you show you will. Making your hours as a first or even second year is more challenging than as a midlevel for exactly this reason, the sprint-rest cycle of all litigation is exagerated for you. It will become easier to predict and manage as you get more senior and can be involved at a higher, more sustained level on fewer litigations (until you get so senior and expensive that you cannot do the meat of the work, but that's a different problem).

If I was mistaken, and you actually think 50-60 hours spread out over a week is too much, the answer on how to build a cushion is you cannot. Your hours target is 2000 hours, so you have to hit (or at least aim for) 2000 hours. You cane work chill 38-40 hour work weeks every single week and take zero vacation ever, or you can suck it up and do a few months of 50-60 hour weeks but get the flexibility to schedule a vacation, but at the end of the year it's gotta add up to 2000.

If 50-60 hours does feel like it is killing you, have you considered ways to structure that differently? Some people are very ok working 12-14 hours four days a week, but really need most of their weekends free and a slow Friday or Monday each week to recover. Other people have no issue working pretty much seven days a week, but the idea of ever going over about 8-9 hours in a particular day makes them ill (or is impossible for family commitments). Similarly, some people find it much easier to get all their work in a day done in one block (like from 9-6 straight with no lunch break, but going into complete reactionary mode after dinner), and others feel a lot better splitting it into more discrete sections (like working on different tasks from 8-11, taking a really long lunch, working from 1-5, taking a long dinner break, and working from 9-11.)

You don't always have control over this, and all of these strategies get blown up regularly by the needs of whatever project you are on. But when you do have control, I would try some different ways to structure your week and pay attention to how you feel using some of these different strategies. If you structure it right, a 50-60 hour week can feel less stressful than a poorly structured 40 hour week.

Also last thing, you should make sure you are not accidentally forgetting to bill abnormal time. If you get a work email on a case you have to respond to at 11:00 at night and it takes you 25 minutes to look up what you need and write the response, make sure you actually remember to record that even if it was out of your normal work hours. Same thing goes for questions on weekends, remember to record it. Those small out of hours questions add up a lot, and you could over the course of a year be forgetting to enter days of time.

Related question but do pro Bono hours count for total year end hours?

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:35 pm

Related question but do pro Bono hours count for total year end hours?

Depends on firm.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:45 pm

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:35 pm

Related question but do pro Bono hours count for total year end hours?

Depends on firm.

Thanks. I suppose I should have asked my firm. Would be crazy if they don’t count with the amount they try to shove it in everyone’s face.