It happens every month. The shareholders make a point of emphasizing billable hours. You should have as many as possible. Bill, bill, bill. Don’t let a billable opportunity escape you.

And then in the middle of the month, the pro-formas are run. Shareholders scurry around the office trying the get everyone to review the mock-ups before bills are run. Inevitably, I am questioned about the amount of time I spent on a file. “Why do you have 7 hours on this file?” The answer I give them in my head goes something like “because you didn’t tell me that the documents I needed to get the title corrected were not in the file and I had to find a deed from 1912 in order to get you an answer to your ‘quick question.’” I have thus far refrained from lecturing the shareholders on their sometimes unreasonable expectations.

This creates a problem for associates. We can write down the time we actually spend on a task, make our billable hours, and then be harassed by the billing attorney who claims he cannot send out a bill for that much money. Or, we can write down what we think will be an acceptable amount of time for the task done and watch our billable hours slowly but surely shrink, and then be harassed by a supervisor for not being more productive.

This is the main reason I am against the billable hour. For most of what I do, a fixed or percentage fee would be more appropriate. But the shareholders around here are “old-school” and wouldn’t dream of messing with our billable hour requirement (unless of course it was to increase them).

I think this is a problem for most associates at most law firms. It has been everywhere I have ever worked. What say the rest of you?

 

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