BigLaw Practice Areas doing reasonable hours Forum

[nickofdime]

I'm doing 60+ hours on an average (finance). What are the practice areas doing reasonable hours in this market? Reasonable is 35-50 at this point.

[2013]

You won’t find a position at any market paying firm that is at 35 hours/week.

Edit: typos

[Buglaw]

I'm doing 60+ hours on an average (finance). What are the practice areas doing reasonable hours in this market? Reasonable is 35-50 at this point.

Not sure if you are asking hours worked or billable. I mean there are tons of practice areas that don't require 60 billable hours a week. Essentially, every single one, and you can lateral by randomly selecting a firm to make your decision if your goal is to just avoid a 3000 hour year. There are no full time practice areas where you work 35-45 hours a week (maybe some specialists or litigators work 50ish with busier periods sometimes).

[mardash]

Buglaw’s got a good point. Isn’t an avg of 35 hours a week more than 1800 hours? Add in some busy months and subtract holidays and you’re at 2100.

[2013]

Buglaw’s got a good point. Isn’t an avg of 35 hours a week more than 1800 hours? Add in some busy months and subtract holidays and you’re at 2100.

35 hours is under 1700.

[nixy]

Buglaw’s got a good point. Isn’t an avg of 35 hours a week more than 1800 hours? Add in some busy months and subtract holidays and you’re at 2100.

35 hours is under 1700.

It is if you take 4 weeks off. It's over 1800 if you don't take any weeks off. (Not that I think anyone is averaging 35 hours/wk in biglaw, either billed or actually worked.)

[2013]

Buglaw’s got a good point. Isn’t an avg of 35 hours a week more than 1800 hours? Add in some busy months and subtract holidays and you’re at 2100.

35 hours is under 1700.

It is if you take 4 weeks off. It's over 1800 if you don't take any weeks off. (Not that I think anyone is averaging 35 hours/wk in biglaw, either billed or actually worked.)

I guess someone billing 35 hours a week doesn’t really need a vacation.

[mardash]

Buglaw’s got a good point. Isn’t an avg of 35 hours a week more than 1800 hours? Add in some busy months and subtract holidays and you’re at 2100.

35 hours is under 1700.

It is if you take 4 weeks off. It's over 1800 if you don't take any weeks off. (Not that I think anyone is averaging 35 hours/wk in biglaw, either billed or actually worked.)

I guess someone billing 35 hours a week doesn’t really need a vacation.

Yees, I just was multiplying 35 by the number of weeks, which is what an average be.

[Anonymous User]

There are definitely associates that average 35 hrs/week (billed) in biglaw and do just fine.

[Anonymous User]

There are definitely associates that average 35 hrs/week (billed) in biglaw and do just fine.

Yes, I was one. Obviously not sustainable forever but I only needed it to be until I quit.

[Anonymous User]

ERISA/exec comp. Was just talking to an ERISA lawyer and his hours are both lower (not 35 per week but not more than 45) and more predictable so he could plan and have a social life. Trade off is it sounds mind-numblingly boring.

[Anonymous User]

I’m a junior in big law lit in NYC and I’m averaging somewhere between 35-40 billable hours a week. Got great reviews and we have an assigning system so it’s not like I’m hiding from work. It definitely exists.

[Sackboy]

ERISA/exec comp. Was just talking to an ERISA lawyer and his hours are both lower (not 35 per week but not more than 45) and more predictable so he could plan and have a social life. Trade off is it sounds mind-numblingly boring.

ERISA work is more chill. Exec comp is 50% more chill and 50% deal burn and churn (but still better than general corp). It's pretty interesting work, so I never get why people call it boring. General corporate is the definition of boring, actually developing legal skills in a technical niche should be a dream for most lawyers.

[Elston Gunn]

Generally speaking, the more niche, substance heavy practices like ERISA (as mentioned), Tax, various regulatory practices etc are going to be more chill and predictable.

I was a regulatory associate. Never did more than 2050 client hours, and never more than 1900 actual paying hours. (Always got a bonus.) Still plenty stressful but much better than M&A or general lit.