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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!

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.

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 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:53 pm

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 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?

catalinawinemixer wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 12, 2021 2:18 pm

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 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 12, 2021 11:53 am

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:53 pm

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.