3L Part-Time Work Forum

[Anonymous User]

Just got offered a part-time position at the firm I summered at as a 3L. A bit confused.. will they be having me do real work? Is it comparable to the summer? Any insight would be helpful, thanks!

[mardash]

Yes, and yes (assuming they gave you at least some real work in your summer). It’s usually hiring based on need/to jump start training. I saw it most commonly in patent prosecution.

[Anonymous User]

Do it if you can, honestly.

I did it part-time my 3L year back in 2016 and I was paid $70-80/hour, with my total weekly hours forcibly capped at 20 hours/week because of NALP guidelines. It was fantastic.

[Anonymous User]

Do it if you can, honestly.

I did it part-time my 3L year back in 2016 and I was paid $70-80/hour, with my total weekly hours forcibly capped at 20 hours/week because of NALP guidelines. It was fantastic.

Thank you for the response! Did you actually get enough work to bill 20 hours a week? Or were you fudging some hours? I heard from an alum that they just always billed the 20 a week no matter how little or how much they actually worked. Just trying to figure out if there is a norm or accepted way part-time workers do this. Thank you!

[catalinawinemixer]

I wish my firm was doing this. Anyone have any insight regarding the possibility of working part-time for a firm despite having signed a return offer at another? Is there any way to figure out which firms might be open to hiring part-time 3Ls who are not incoming associates?

[mardash]

I wish my firm was doing this. Anyone have any insight regarding the possibility of working part-time for a firm despite having signed a return offer at another? Is there any way to figure out which firms might be open to hiring part-time 3Ls who are not incoming associates?

They simply aren’t going to do this for 3Ls that aren’t joining the firm.

[Anonymous User]

Do it if you can, honestly.

I did it part-time my 3L year back in 2016 and I was paid $70-80/hour, with my total weekly hours forcibly capped at 20 hours/week because of NALP guidelines. It was fantastic.

Thank you for the response! Did you actually get enough work to bill 20 hours a week? Or were you fudging some hours? I heard from an alum that they just always billed the 20 a week no matter how little or how much they actually worked. Just trying to figure out if there is a norm or accepted way part-time workers do this. Thank you!

I billed between 12-20 most weeks, but was paid out for all the time I spent in the office (including non-billable), so I collected 18-20 usually. I went to the office twice a week and just did whatever work was available (and sometimes it took pressuring attorneys for work).

If you're doing this remotely, I imagine you'd only get to be paid for how much you're actually billing to a client. Don't create fraudulent billables, just ask more people for work (or if you're lucky enough to just get diligence/doc review, it's easy to have enough to work on to fill the time).

There were two others in my class year who did part-time work during 3L, and one just stayed at the office without doing much/shirking work and got paid out 20 hours/week because he spent 20 hours at the office. It was cushy for a while but they cut him after a month or so because he clearly wasn't adding any value, and he lost a bit of face among the attorneys in his group. Just treat this like a job (because it is - you're getting paid handsomely) and don't do anything stupid to jeopardize it.

I wish my firm was doing this. Anyone have any insight regarding the possibility of working part-time for a firm despite having signed a return offer at another? Is there any way to figure out which firms might be open to hiring part-time 3Ls who are not incoming associates?

Yeah, no. This almost certainly isn't going to happen.