The Big Law Environment

[@TomFernandezSC]

This man is speaking from the heart. Very refreshing.

[@bhan87]

Yes, if you were to work non-stop and get back-to-back-to-back assignments that perfectly line up in your schedule, you can get out of the office after working 8 hours. But this isn't the case 99% of the time... At big law firms you routinely get thrown "by the next day" assignments at 5PM forcing you to stay late. You're required to attend X departmental meeting that isn't billable, which forces you to put off Y assignment till later that night, etc.

[@thanasi100]

I just read your article in Volume 59 of the Vanderbilt Law Review, Being a Happy, Healthy, and Ethical Member of an Unhappy, Unhealthy, and Unethical Profession. Thank you for providing such great insight on the health of lawyers and the "inside scoop" on big firm hiring. Very good job!

[@EvanLevow]

Many people think of lawyers as being one of the big firm lawyers who makes lots of money and has lots of time to spend it. The fact is that most lawyers make nowhere near the kind of money that's made in big law firms. The hours can still be long though.

[@WarrenAch]

@nina090991 Remember, billing 60 hours doesn't mean you're in the office 60 hours. Many Associates for big firms such as Skadden or Sullivan & Cromwell in huge markets such as NYC usually stay at the office 70 hours a week but only bill 56-60 hours.

[@KissRocksForever]

Gotta love all the people commenting that have no idea what they're talking about. If you're a first year associate in a big cooperate firm, you'll be at the office 70 or 80 hours a week, and those four weeks of vacation you get? Well you only get those if you manage to get all your hours billed around that time off, otherwise say bye-bye to your job at a big firm, and likely any other big firm in the future.

[@Golden2Talon]

I just calculated the numbers. If you work 40 hours a day, that's about the 2000 hours a year the guy in the video talked about. That's sounds pretty normal. I thought it's more.

[@joshwendt2939]

Golden2Talon thanks for proving his point

[@xandro2445]

@@Golden2Talon I think you mean 40 hours a week. But it's still incorrect. Most people don't work 40 hours a week, they might be at work 40 hours, but they sure aren't working the entire time. Billable hours are basically when you're actively working on a case and able to bill a client. So you have to show your firm that you have been actively working on cases. If you've been at work for 8 hours, you may have only had 5 billable hours. You're going to stay for a few more hours to get your billable hours up. It's extremely easy to work 12 hours.

[@ardruma]

Haha, some of you obviously don't yet work in Big Law. You don't bill anywhere near 100% of your time. Don't go this route unless you want to practically live at work.

[@bigtanjesuit]

Hours billed DOES NOT = hours worked. You can work 8 hours a day and bill 4 or 5 if you are being incredibly productive.

[@BP-or2iu]

That's bullshit. Good lawyers can work at 85% if they're incredibly productive. 50% means you are shit at the job and not efficient at all.

[@nobad6134]

@@BP-or2iu It’s not about productivity so much as about the opportunity when the billable work comes. You can be productive but not have as much billable work coming in to do.

[@jdiwkall]

I went to a top 10 law school and I was primed to become a lawyer at a big firm...then I realized how FUCKEN boring the study of law is...after a couple years of practice I just knew it was time for me to go....luckily I was not in ANY debt (remember, DEBT is slavery)...I now work in the public sector and my life is GREAT, I enjoy spending 1-2 hours watching the sunset everyday...something about that is priceless to me...and honestly the money is not bad...it is in the lower 6 figures...

[@gsotoaz]

TheDopestGamer why would he be lying? Come on dude

[@BP-or2iu]

The writing just does not come off as someone who went to a a Top Ten school. And also, the sun sets in a matter of minutes... doesn't take 2 hours. I don't know what planet this guy lives on.

[@syauqirazak4478]

Too bad you're not even making lower 6 figures because you living on your parents basement.

[@xandro2445]

Is the study or practice of law boring?

[@jdiwkall]

@@BP-or2iu see it's this kind of overly pretentious asinine logic that makes me not wanna deal with lawyers. because some lawyers are like this on just about everything. they try to over analyze every word because words matter, i get it.. but when I'm just typing a youtube comment you try using some common sense. From 6:30pm to 8:30pm ... during the fall that's the best time of the day to me, (or some other 2 hour period during the other seasons comparable to the fall's 6:30-8:30 in terms of sunset status) and that's when I truly enjoy being out on a walk, listening to some Anton Bruckner or Gustav Mahler and enjoying my freedom to watch that sunset. Do you have any more comments, smart ass?

[@kingdomleaf]

@nina090991 I think "billable hours" and "actual hours worked" are nonequivalent for most people, chiefly in that actual hours tend to be greater than hours billed.

[@thientoan89]

@ilkkavu He went to harvard law, i'm pretty sure he's brilliant enough to be a big firm lawyer. He simply chose not to.

[@googleknows339]

I was recently accepted into Columbia University and I want to attend Columbia law as well and am hoping to work at a big law firm by age 40 a partner. Hopefully

[@lebronkanter4616]

Good Luck. I'm going to Davidson and want to do the same thing hopefully going to Harvard, Yale, or Duke Law.

[@moneymitch6790]

How'd you study for the lsat

[@void7799]

𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦

[@aalegalfocus]

Those are lofty goals, but going to Columbia certainly puts you in the running. Avoid law school debt & lower-ranked law schools. Good luck!

[@nightly522]

good video

[@encompassvideo5429]

I work alone and generate about 200k per year, largely part-time. I am 55 and have no debt. I am in a sweet spot. It's a little lonely, though.

[@pequodexpress]

"I prefer not to." ---Bartleby

[@gsotoaz]

This didn't sound very uplifting or inspiring at all.

[@bigeurasianstepper]

Play the big law game to pay your loans off, get a bit of a nest egg and get the hell out

[@Coffee993]

@@bigeurasianstepper That’s not unlike recommending a limited regimen of crack cocaine

[@WarrenAch]

@jmurphrocks15 Remember, not all the time is spent at work. When you consider the breaks, the lunch time, the moments where Partners act like complete ass holes and force you to fix random shit like their daughter's PMS problems or help other associates with their work, you end up not billing the entire 70 hours spent in the office. That's why that dude in the video said billing 2000 hours/year is crazy, and it is.

[@tyrdunbar]

2000 hours a month? Or a year?

[@JohnSmith-xq6cv]

Tay D year

[@xandro2445]

A week

[@FRT2]

But that a full time , 2000/12 is 166 a month. Thats around 41 a week. A lot of people that work that kind of hours .

[@BP-or2iu]

That's "billable" hours. You have to work more than that to actually get the billable hour. Not every thing you do is "billable." You could work for two hours and only bill 1 hour.

[@xandro2445]

Most big law attorneys work around 70-80 a week.

[@lynndx101]

Hell i do anything for +100k.

[@stylejunge]

40h week gives you 2080 hours a year.. include holidays etc. pp and you come up to 45h/week max.

[@seamuscooper6036]

Subtract 2 weeks of vacation. Add non-billable meetings. Pro bono assignments. Training. Events. Extremely rare you're spending less than 50 hours a week at work.

[@jdiwkall]

law school is exorbitant and law profession is destructive

[@TruBlueRepublicanSue]

800K for someone who graduated in the top 20% or so of a top 10 law school is a bargain soNNNNNNNNNNN.

[@xpat73]

Biglaw is just awful....it's not worth the money.

[@23skidoo78]

you seem to confuse "work" for "sitting if office with nothing to do" which is an entirely different issue if you are billing 50% of your actually working time you are ripping your firm off and if you are forced to eat 50% of your time, there is an issue other than "too much work" here at the top firms, you work it, you bill it for the most part.

[@violetroy5838]

2000 seems to be the norm. Even firms with low salaries want these hours. LOL. There are a lot of other careers which offer better pay and higher satisfaction. The law is miserable profession.

[@elezabeththomas5250]

It's ridiculous.

[@alexd7164]

If there are 260 work days in a year which doesnt include weekends 2000 hours averages 7.7 hours 5 days a week. If you include saturdays thats 6.4 hours 6 days a week.

[@TheMovieTrailers2U]

Billable hours is very different from hours worked... lunch breaks, coffee breaks, toilet breaks, that family phone call, travel time i could go on and on.... clients will not pay top dollar for the lawyers to be doing that lol

[@xandro2445]

Lmao. No big law attorney is working under 10 hours daily and definitely coming in on weekends.

[@aalegalfocus]

Exactly. My ex-husband worked for Skadden and was miserable, lasting a year before leaving.

[@23skidoo78]

he billed 40 hours a week for 50 weeks and it almost killed him? NO ONE COULD POSSIBLY work 8 FULL HOURS for 250 DAYS in a 365 day year...NO WAY!!!

[@WoWKoest]

You don't understand how billable hours work, do you?

[@BP-or2iu]

You obviously don't understand the profession. That's not hours worked. That's billable hours. Look up the ratio. 40 billable hours a week could be 80 or more. could be 60 if you're a badass, Could be 45 if you're superhuman. But it will NOT be 40.

[@shannon2123]

Billable hours = the amount of time in their work day that can be charged to a client. That doesn’t include all the other work, like paperwork, email, and phone consultations.

[@sukkeri]

what is he crying about? he is obviously not cut out to be a big firm lawyer.

[@tristank6575]

You're wrong.

[@parinnayee8060]

He went to Harvard. Where did you go?

[@seamuscooper6036]

You wouldn't last 6 months in big law. Unless I'm wrong and you practice?