is it possible to work fewer hours or “slack off” in biglaw?
Hi Cece, I like your videos about biglaw life and have two questions. First: You mentioned that you were on reduced hours (80%) in the last two years of your practice. I am a third-year associate in biglaw. I want more time for myself out of work so I have been thinking about working part-time (80%). But I have heard several part-time lawyers saying that part time is tricky because you still have to work the long hours when there is need and as a result, you are working almost the same hours for less pay. How was your experience? How did you make part time work for you? Did you bill more or less than 80% of the billable requirement?
Second question: I am exploring ways to improve my life as a biglaw associate. My main issue is that I want more time to myself out of work, which seems impossible under the billable requirement (2000 for my firm). I talked to my coach about this issue and she said that I should forget about the billable requirement and what other people are doing and just go at a pace that makes sense to me. I was worried about getting fired if I do that, and she says that there are always people in each firm who are able to enjoy their lives by "slacking". I don't want to make partner but I don't want to get fired before I land my next job. Do you think it is feasible to not meet the billable requirement (e.g., bill 1800 - 1900) for years?
- Anonymous
These are great considerations all around! I’m glad you’re thinking about how to make biglaw work for you while still working for biglaw. In turn:
Part-time in biglaw can indeed be tricky—the success of such an arrangement ultimately always depends on the people with whom you directly work. If (a) you are strong in establishing boundaries and (b) they are good at respecting boundaries, reduced-hours arrangements tend to work out very well. If either (a) or (b) are missing, reduced-hours arrangements tend to not work out.
The misnomer about part-time in biglaw is that it is somehow more bounded, which isn’t true—you still need to be just as available as you were before, but you can now aim for fewer hours each day, on average. Being part-time didn’t mean that I stopped working at 8pm if things still needed to get done; it just meant that I didn’t feel as guilty starting my workday at 10am or deciding to finish something up the next day because I had already satisfied my target daily hours.
When I joined my former group, most of the attorneys I worked with were already on reduced-hours schedules, which gave me the confidence to ask for it myself and also provided a support network of more senior attorneys from whom I could seek advice about sticking to reduced-hours schedules. I typically finished out the year between 83-85%, and my then-firm had a great policy where they would “true up” my salary at the end of the year (so I would get that extra 3-5% as a mini salary “bonus” in addition to my annual bonus).
If I were you, I would figure out which part-time lawyers at your firm are the closest to you in terms of practice, who they work with, etc., and give their opinions more weight. If all of them say that they work the same for less pay, then I would conclude that the environment isn’t well set-up for success with going part-time. If some of them seem to have made it work, I would take notes from them and try to emulate them as much as possible.The relationship between hitting your billable target and getting fired is very market-dependent. In busy years, firms may keep on associates who don’t hit their billable targets, but in slow years, firms will likely look to those same associates as the first to ask to leave. You can certainly not hit your billable target one year and not get fired, provided your performance reviews are still good. Partners have told me numerous times that there will be some years where you don’t hit your hours—that’s just the nature of the beast—so I wouldn’t worry too much about missing the target one year.
That being said, not meeting billable targets for multiple years can bring increased scrutiny, particularly if the firm is looking to cut costs. It’s hard to gauge just where the line is at any moment, though, given how market- and firm-dependent the line is—if you are close with any partner who is involved in associate evaluations or can see the timesheets of all associates, I would try to ask them for a general sense of how much peer associates are billing. Remember to couch this ask in terms of wanting to be aware of when to pick up more work if everyone else is slammed, rather than wanting to know how much you can slack. The key to effective slacking, if that’s your goal, is to slack in the middle while still producing quality work. You know that saying about not needing to outrun the bear? It’s basically that.
Good luck!!
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