1950 billable hours req - manageable with kids?

[Anonymous]

My hours are only marginally longer in private practice than they were when I was in government, but I realize a lot of that might have had to do with the government job I held.

[Anonymous]

I am a former fed (not DOJ or SEC) who made the jump to medium law and then big law. I was at my fed job for 6ish years. I made the jump when I was already a mom. Long story short, I was totally shocked by how hard it is to bill 1950. SHOCKED. At my fed job, I would have stretches where I worked hard. What I did not realize is that to bill 1950, you have to take your hardest day (or week) in government, and do it every single day. If you want to see your child, then there is no time for social lunches, no time to work out after work. You have to be incredibly focused. And yes, you have much less time with your family. Having known what it is like to parent in a 9 to 5 job, this transition has been so hard for me as a parent. These days, I get in around 8 and am lucky to leave at 5:30. Some nights it is 7 or 8. I've been working most weekends, usually a few hours on Sunday. I have no life, except for the day I can give my child...and it certainly does not feel like enough. On top of that, survival in a law firm is tough. You have to market yourself internally. You have to be savy. You have to bill time, but not too much time that the client won't pay. Being a fed was a cake walk. I just worked hard and was rewarded for working hard.

I would really think long and hard about making the jump.

That being said, there are reasons to do it. I felt like my fed job was settling. I needed to try this to grow and truly I have. Now I know how to work hard. Now I have been challenged. I feel that I am at the pinical of professional legal practice. I can leave this job and know I practice law at the highest level I could. With the stress, I try and stay in today and hope the hours will work themselves out here or at my next opportunity (going back to feds is not an option as I left DC). I hope this will open doors for me, even if I don't stay in Big Law forever.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Enjoy being at the pinical!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Enjoy being at the pinical!

Previous poster here...typing fast...so yes, typo....time is a ticking. That is sort of the point. Your life becomes insane.

[Anonymous]

no, not kid friendly

[Anonymous]

No.

[Anonymous]

what about someone who works in medicine? Don't they work 80-100 hours per week? which is about 4000-5000 hours a year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:what about someone who works in medicine? Don't they work 80-100 hours per week? which is about 4000-5000 hours a year

Certainly not an easy career either, though: (1) its not 4000-5000 hours of "billable" time, and (2) most of my doctor friends alternate intense bouts of insane hours and periods of time off/sane hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was at a meeting at a client's with another partner from my firm (he worked in a different office location). We both traveled to a third different city for the meeting. Anyway, he mentioned in passing that his wife "just had #4". I was very congratulatory and said "oh when was the baby born?" His response: "Last night." I've have a handful more exchanges just like that with other lawyers.

A girl that I graduated with had a baby in her first year. She worked until midnight on a Thursday night, had a schedule c-section on Friday morning, handed the baby to her mother on Monday morning and was back in the office.

I will never understand this. Why do these "parents" even bother having kids in the first place? It just doesn't make any sense. If you don't want to (or can't) parent then don't have kids. Simple. Oh well, at least there's lots of money for all the therapy that the kids will need later on.

[Anonymous]

It is more understandable if you know that this story is at best a gross exaggeration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is more understandable if you know that this story is at best a gross exaggeration.

Actually, it may not be. I know for a fact that a relative of mine gave birth and went back to work the next week (dentist). It happens. And actually, she is a great mom. She is very close with her grown kids. I think it helped that although she worked full time ownin her own business, she had flexibility. She also had a great nanny that was there from the birth of her first child till the third child went to college. The nanny is still a part of their lives.

It is not a choice I would make (to not take a full maternity leave) but there are all kinds of ways to be a great parent. And there are all kinds of ways to be a bad parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is more understandable if you know that this story is at best a gross exaggeration.

Actually, it may not be. I know for a fact that a relative of mine gave birth and went back to work the next week (dentist). It happens. And actually, she is a great mom. She is very close with her grown kids. I think it helped that although she worked full time ownin her own business, she had flexibility. She also had a great nanny that was there from the birth of her first child till the third child went to college. The nanny is still a part of their lives.

It is not a choice I would make (to not take a full maternity leave) but there are all kinds of ways to be a great parent. And there are all kinds of ways to be a bad parent.

Going back to work the next week is not in the same ballpark as staying at wit until midnight he might before a c section and then being in the office the next business day. The story is just not true.

[Anonymous]

As a female attorney with kids, I would recommend looking in-house and avoiding billable hour requirements entirely. I worked 1900 minimum with one child and then reduced it to go "part-time" with 1600 hour requirement. And that was not always achievable, particularly if the work wasn't there at a particular time and you have to pack it in during a different quarter and work like crazy to make it up. You can certainly do it and I have close friends who are moms who have billed 2000 plus hours and now made partner...but their husbands are handling much of the load at home and with the kids. Good luck with it all! It's a tough decision, I know!