Hours at top plaintiff’s firms? Forum

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Hours at top plaintiff’s firms?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Nov 17, 2021 9:19 am

Does anyone have a sense of what the day to day hours are like at a place like Lieff, Cohen Milstein, Hausfeld etc are like? I know the hours are inevitably crazy if there’s a trial, but when you’re not doing one, what’s the average weekly time at work and are vacations encouraged/respected?

I’m particularly interested in DC offices, but happy to hear about anywhere.

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Re: Hours at top plaintiff’s firms?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Nov 17, 2021 11:08 am

At one of those firms. Hours are generally on par with or worse than biglaw, even in non trial years. Those firms all have a reverse pyramid setup, so there are many more partners than associates. So associates can get crushed with hours. The flip side is you will run 100+ million dollar cases from day 1 in ways you would never in biglaw.

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Re: Hours at top plaintiff’s firms?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Nov 17, 2021 12:36 pm

Agreed--the hours are comparable. Generally, you are doing more interesting stuff, but, because it's also more important, that can mean it's more stressful with a higher chance of an error you make mattering.

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Re: Hours at top plaintiff’s firms?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Nov 17, 2021 1:17 pm

Similar question specifically about Edelson, if anyone has any insight.

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Re: Hours at top plaintiff’s firms?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Nov 17, 2021 1:37 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Nov 17, 2021 12:36 pm
Agreed--the hours are comparable. Generally, you are doing more interesting stuff, but, because it's also more important, that can mean it's more stressful with a higher chance of an error you make mattering.
Would you mind giving a general idea of what your hours/week are?

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Re: Hours at top plaintiff’s firms?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Nov 17, 2021 1:43 pm

I’m the first poster. It’s over 2000 every year, for everyone I work with at the firm. In a trial year, it’s closer to 3000.

Never had a problem getting or meeting hours. It’s just different from biglaw - you will likely be the only associate on any given case so you never run out of work to do. But again, you do more than any biglaw associate ever does on a case. If you want a lifestyle firm, the firms you asked about are not that. These are high end litigation boutiques recovering billions of dollars with much smaller staffs than the big firms they are going against. It attracts people who believe in the work and are willing to do the work. There are no places to hide with this staffing model.

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Re: Hours at top plaintiff’s firms?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Nov 17, 2021 2:29 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Wed Nov 17, 2021 11:08 am
At one of those firms. Hours are generally on par with or worse than biglaw, even in non trial years. Those firms all have a reverse pyramid setup, so there are many more partners than associates. So associates can get crushed with hours. The flip side is you will run 100+ million dollar cases from day 1 in ways you would never in biglaw.
How much upside does an associate see from verdict/settlement on these big dollar cases they’re running

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