billable vs. non-billable hours explained

[@BreezyLavender]

I love how businesses still find a way to not pay their employees no matter how much school they go through, so why go into debt just to spend your life struggling to pay it off? I’d rather start my own business.

[@General8675]

She was making 215k+ a year doing this. Pay was not the issue.

[@lizard4089]

Bro that sucks. Nobody talks about this enough.

[@vitamindealer7915]

Billable hours are failure by design.

[@ellobo4290]

Billable hours give me anxiety

[@sabahpetrov4536]

My firm gives you a certain amount of credit to non billable and MoFo where she worked also gives you credit for non billable

[@CeceXie]

MoFo didn't give billable credit for non-billable--there was a separate non-billable hours requirement! they recently are giving billable credit for participating in diversity initiatives, though, which i think is great

[@phoenixnmhesq]

Listening to this video just made me realize that I can’t. I CANNOT with corporate America

[@clarissalin7212]

It's international. Billable hours as a practice that is

[@BBB-to4cc]

This is similar to my job in the clinical research field. I am in month 3 of training and they’ve said I should start having less non-project related hours and more billable hours, but I take lots of time to organize

[@bunny2032]

I worked in support staffing roles in 2 firms - only one of those had billable hours and I despised everything about billing time. That’s so stressful!

[@bellevoor]

Sounds like Americorps 🙃

[@luvmeany]

I absolutely hate billables. I work in business immigration, so clients are charged a flat fee for all cases, but we still have to complete a billable time sheet for the firm to use as an efficiency measure even tho the client never actually sees those hours and are still only charged a flat rate. It's horrible because I do a lot of background case analysis and record keeping (I'm a paralegal btw) work for our largest client that I can't bill for. Plus you're right. You can't bill for internal case meetings, team meetings, organizational tasks, leaving your desk to use the restroom, attorneys that come by just to talk about stuff that doesn't really matter, etc. We're all also extremely busy, which would be fine if we weren't expected to keep a minute to minute narrative on a case list of like 30-70 cases of how busy we are. The day this law firm tradition dies, will be a great day, but for now, I'm doing everything I can to go in-house and leverage my foreign worker permitting knowledge in corporate HR. Fingers crossed that the time sheet will one day be a distant nightmarefrom my past 😂😂😂

[@nnicollan]

Thats if you work 240 days per year

[@briannam9298]

Does that mean you don’t get paid for those hours (non-billable hours)?

[@CeceXie]

sort of. associates are salaried, so they get paid that salary regardless of how much they work (billable or non-billable), but non-billable hours do not go towards your annual billable requirement to make your bonus so in that way you don't get "paid" for non-billable hours

[@athena608]

Associates are salaried so they get paid the same either way. But they need to hit their billable hours requirement to stay in good stead with the firm and be eligible for a bonus. You don't hit those hours, you don't get a bonus. And when you're making about $200,000 per year or more already, that bonus can be tens of thousands of dollars - that's a lot of extra money to pay off your huge law school loans!

[@donyconjux1]

@@CeceXie If we focus on the monetary side of it then the next question is how much is that bonus you get if you meet your billable hours for the year and if so, is it worth it?

[@CeceXie]

the bonus increases with class year (www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/). definitely worth it as you get more senior, and you kinda need to get it when you're more junior to even make it to higher seniority

[@MrSethmo13]

I’ve been practicing law for 27 years. I refer to my billable hour obligation as “the treadmill“. It never stops. Never.

[@yufeivicky]

Same with public accounting. It sucks.

[@regieds]

So basically you get paid around min wage?

[@steve19149]

Get a grip geez poor me.

[@SkipperAnimations]

I believe that this video is more about how stressful it is to meet the requirements of the billable hours a year than about the amount of salary and bonusses that associates make

[@beccalife275]

Billable vs working hours is another reason I could not be a lawyer

[@steve19149]

All high status jobs are stressful.

[@PeaceOfMake]

There are MANY "low status" jobs that are highly stressful.

[@steve19149]

@@PeaceOfMake exactly. If not more so because they often are easily replaced. Plus usually no savings.

[@PeaceOfMake]

@@steve19149 So what's your point then?

[@steve19149]

@@PeaceOfMake wish it were obvious and this didn't have to continue. Most all jobs have stress not just a position at a high priced law firm. A cook at McDonald's has a physically demand and hot job and because of low wages struggle to pay rent.

[@PeaceOfMake]

@@steve19149 But...your original comment was about high status jobs being stressful.

[@PriusRaj]

Did you get paid hourly or was it a salary? For this BS I'd prefer hourly. Also really glad I'm trying to work at a boutique law firm. Big law be too much for me.

[@CeceXie]

salaried

[@315pasha]

Just go in house

[@sondrahaywood4781]

No thanks

[@fiocherry]

Im in consulting ... and i agree

[@ricksanchez5147]

Your so pretty!

[@songforsoul.4071]

Hi

[@jamesdiemer8928]

Do you know JESUS 😏

[@DeadlyHaunter]

Why did you stop saying I'm a "new york" lawyer ???

[@CeceXie]

this video topic isn’t limited to new york

[@DeadlyHaunter]

@@CeceXie so you are not a new york lawyer anymore? 😂

[@CeceXie]

i am? but billable hours aren’t limited to just new york

[@DeadlyHaunter]

@@CeceXie you posted a video saying you were a burner but cudnt stop yourself from mentioning you were a 'new York' lawyer. It's good that you stopped doing that now. 😁

[@juliehwang8482]

... that's just a mental health issue. Not all lawyers are like this. It's not a responsibility of the profession itself, but you would make. wonderrful lawyer.. you are probably just in the wrong field.. just for now.. sustainable lawyers are the future.. ok bye.

[@xxxnasodinationxxx4400]

And that is why you lie about billable hours!

[@User39842D]

All fun and games until you get disbarred