Question about comment from boss Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hi all, my boss, who is a prominent litigator who works very hard, has been encouraging me to work less hard. He has told me on multiple occasions that I should go home, and that I'm "working too hard." It's hard to tell whether he seriously means this or its his way of telling me that he's impressed with the amount of I'm putting in. I'm very eager to make a good impression: is continuing to stay late detrimental to that? Thanks!

[Anonymous User]

Hi all, my boss, who is a prominent litigator who works very hard, has been encouraging me to work less hard. He has told me on multiple occasions that I should go home, and that I'm "working too hard." It's hard to tell whether he seriously means this or its his way of telling me that he's impressed with the amount of I'm putting in. I'm very eager to make a good impression: is continuing to stay late detrimental to that? Thanks!

Your boss is testing you. Bring a pillow and blanket to work tomorrow, sleep in your office, and prove to your boss that nothing will keep you from doing all you can to advance your clients' positions.

[jhett]

Without actually knowing the guy, it's too hard for Internet strangers to discern the correct answer here. You're in the best position to figure out. Are there other lawyers around that work around the same as you? Does he say that to other people? Does he work shorter or longer hours than you? Does he tend to make sincere or sarcastic comments? Maybe the next time he says it you can just ask for clarification.

[Anonymous User]

What year are you OP? I suspect pretty junior, because I don't normally hear people talk about partners at a firm as their "boss."

I wouldn't worry. People at my firm (and in particular in my department, which is typically busier than the rest of the firm) say this all the time to 1st/2nd years to keep them from burning out. If you're new to this, it might seem fine for now, but it's not sustainable for most people. So the firm would rather keep you around for 4-5 years working 2k hours even than just 2 working much more.

I say this as a 5th year who never worked less than 2600 hours in a year (and broke 3k before). Partners who work the same, if not more than I do repeatedly told me to tone it down over my first couple years, and they explicitly said it was because they worried I was going to burn out. Now that they know I can maintain it and don't want to leave, they don't say it much anymore.

Just be warry - billing lots of hours alone is not sufficient to secure partnership. You won't impress people because let's face it, there are lots of people in this industry now who bill their lives away. Your firm will be happy to reap the benefit of your toils and will pat you on the head as you go along, so in the end of the day it's up to you (not the firm) to pick how much you are willing to put in.

With that said, if they start sounding serious rather than concerned, they might be trying to suggest your quality would improve if you toned it down a bit. I think that's weird and passive aggressive way to go about it, but you're the best to judge as the previous poster said.

[nealric]

Just be warry - billing lots of hours alone is not sufficient to secure partnership. You won't impress people because let's face it, there are lots of people in this industry now who bill their lives away. Your firm will be happy to reap the benefit of your toils and will pat you on the head as you go along, so in the end of the day it's up to you (not the firm) to pick how much you are willing to put in.

There's a certain point where quality of hours matters over quantity. If you billed 2800 hours a year for five years running, but it was mostly doc review, you've never written anything substantive, taken a deposition, or developed any other substantive litigation skills, you aren't setting yourself up to be a credible partnership candidate. Yes, they need (and want) people to work hard, but they are also looking to develop attorneys that they can delegate an entire matter to and trust them to handle without oversight. In order to gain that confidence, you need to do quality work.

As far as the OP: it could be that the person really is worried that you are going to burn out. The firm would rather someone bill 2400 hours a year for 10 years and make partner than someone bill 2800 for 3 years and suddenly quit and go to Tahiti because they can't take it any more.