The Billable Hour: Why Big Law Just Can't Quit It

The billable hour has been blamed for everything that’s wrong with the legal profession, from mental health issues to bloated client bills. And yet big law refuses to part ways with it. This video looks at how the billable hour came to dominate big law, the main criticisms against it, and how it stacks up with alternative fee arrangements.
Video features:
Jen Kash, a partner at Warren Lex and former partner at Quinn Emanuel
Jonathan Choi, a professor at University of Minnesota Law School
(Produced by Macarena Carrizosa; Senior Producer: Andrew Satter; Executive Producer: Josh Block)
Watch this video on Bloomberg Law:
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[@foreverneverever7151]

No way a human could continuously function on 1-2 hours of sleep.

[@Essays4College]

How much of his biological life did that attorney give up working that much?

[@SaelPossible]

@@Essays4College Years.

[@Essays4College]

@@SaelPossible exactly

[@Discipleofthelordandjesus]

@@SaelPossiblesad but true.

[@Great_PatBingsoo]

There is no way that lawyers are ethically billing over 3k hours a year. I don’t care what you say, you look hard enough, you’ll find questionable practices. At best, the work product is probably shit at that level of churn.

[@NoahGlanz-go2um]

I agree but there might be very rare exceptions where the work is still of reasonable quality

[@NLBruschi]

Whatever Professor Choi bills per hour -- he's worth it.

[@jamesticknor1134]

1:40 I own that antique desk!

[@edwardpamintuan]

1800 is the most I’d ever agree to

[@bowenpaintertraillawyers]

Very interesting!

[@arthurdda]

Interesting to watch

[@arthurdda]

Does Wachtell use the success fee only in litigation? Otherwise, seems impractical to apply it to M&A

[@Somefatdude]

@@arthurddayou could use alternative fees in M&A and other transactions. It could be a percentage of the deal value, kinda like how realtors are paid. I’m not suggesting that is the best way to do it, but it is an option.

[@trepolkguitar3357]

Robert Plant billed Willie Dixon when creating the saying... a tale as old as time

[@British_loyalist]

Solution: charge more.

[@jackhallander6706]

It’s lawyers’ fault for accepting this. Caveat emptor. You sunk 200k on a degree that teaches you your own irrationality in pursuing this pyramid-shaped organization that you basically have no hope of advancement in (and even if you did, your reward is more work, depression, anxiety, and over-eating). No one thinks that the law is prestigious; in fact, it’s the most hated profession by far.

[@therealmitch-a-palooza7262]

This video is kind of worthless. Billable hours as a concept isn't even close to being the problem. It's the minimums set by law firms that attorneys are expected to abide by in a given year. Anything close to 2,000 billable hour requirements, which is the norm in BigLaw, is absolute insanity. Even if BigLaw moved to an "alternative" means of measuring lawyer productivity, they could still set nutty minimums for that as well. Attorneys just need to stop accepting jobs that negate their entire work-life balance, and reject work environments that hamper their ability to be with their families enough and go on actual vacations.

[@user-fs8tl7ni1w]

Diversity and inclusion challenges? She sounds like a whiny child. Grow up!