Why Are Billable Hours Such a Big Deal?

[@AngelaVorpahl]

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[@adamsimon8220]

In addition, one thing that is helpful for billable entries when starting is to see a good swath of examples of others’. Usually at an orientation, they give you one or two. But that is not enough. So ask the partner supervising one of your matters to let you see last months entries for the matter you’re working on (hopefully with a sizable team so you can discern patterns that are not just idiosyncrasies). These help you in general, but also help you for particular clients. Beyond clients wanting billing down in a certain way (e.g., block billing), you learn how to frame your entries for billable work in a way that is more likely not to raise the client’s eyebrow when they receive the bill or an interim accrual. Good (or even bad) partners are happy to do so because it saves them time editing them over the end of the month. It’s one definite skill juniors can get better at quickly before getting hit with a ton of tasks.

[@AngelaVorpahl]

This is awesome advice! Thanks for sharing, Adam!

[@glorias.2930]

Great video! Can you please do a video on people in their 40s+ who want to go to law school and work in big law? Is it doable? Or is it too late?

[@AngelaVorpahl]

I did! It's the non-traditional law student video you found! 😆 If you would like more of a deep dive into the experience, don't hesitate to reach out to the lawyers I interviewed to make that video (contact info in the description under that video). They all said they'd be happy to talk with aspiring law students coming from a nontraditional background. 🤍

[@glorias.2930]

@@AngelaVorpahl Thank you!!!

[@EvilRailroad]

I disagree on billing for doing things that just get you up to speed on a case. Those aren’t instances where you’re actually doing work for a client. Having said that, there are certainly ways to turn that into billable time. For instance, I’ve billed prep time for depositions, mediations, or hearings where I reviewed docs to get caught up.

[@AngelaVorpahl]

Thanks for sharing your perspective! It's super helpful to see how different lawyers approach billing time.