Attorneys who bill their hours--help me please!

[Anonymous]

I recently left an in-house position for a firm job. It's been years since I billed my hours and I am trying to get used to keeping track of my time in 6-minute increments. I am wondering, though, if there is some kind of unspoken understanding that I don't know about. People in my office seem to work a pretty regular schedule (9-6ish) with time taken out for social conversations, quick lunch, facebooking, etc. I don't know about other people but my team members don't appear to be working from home beyond checking blackberries. So what's the secret? How are these people meeting their billing requirements? I shoot for billing 8 hours a day and that means I am in the office from 8:30 a.m. until 7 or later. Part of this is my own inefficiency which I need to work on (and DCUM!) but I really don't think everyone else is all that much more efficient. FWIW, I work for a good-sized firm with a solid reputation, with mostly corporate clients.

[Anonymous]

Well, first, you never really know what people are billing unless you work at a place where they send a list around, in which case, ugh, that sucks. When I was at Biglaw, even during the boom times, the average billable total per associate was under the minimum.

Second, if any of these people are litigators or in other practice areas where things are not predictable, you can count on the fact that they have up and down weeks and months. If I had a big trial during the first half of the year, I could very well be able to coast or at least dial it back the second half of the year.


Third, you don't know what they are doing at home. I could easily burn 2 to 3 hours a night on a file, but you'd never see it.

Fourth, after a few years, you get religion about tracking every single minute so you don't cheat yourself.

[Anonymous]

From my experience, people are cheating. That's one reason I left BigLaw. I wasn't willing to compromise my integrity.

[Anonymous]

Agreed with 6:55 - people are cheating. A lot of people "enter their time" at the end of the month and these are people who aren't keeping track of it on paper or whatever. People will bill an hour to a case that they "thought about" while driving home in traffic. They also might not to cutting out the time they spent chatting in front of the water cooler.

Of course, there are "down times" and work is cyclical. The longer you are out of law school and the longer you have been keeping track of your time, the less scrupulous you are about it.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, people are cheating. I worked at a firm where they sent around the "book" and if you looked closely you'd see that several people billed more hours than frankly were possible when you also knew what they did for lunch, gym, etc. I was also told that if I went to the bathroom and was thinking about a case then it counted as time. Granted, the firm also did not bill the full time for associates as there was some learning on the job. Keep a notepad on your desk and track your time as you go. If you're worried about making your hours, take a file home and read something in bed as prep for the next day.

[Anonymous]

"People will bill an hour to a case that they "thought about" while driving home in traffic. "

Commonly done by other professionals.

[Anonymous]

People are padding unintentionally -- not turning off the clock when they take a break to go to the bathroom or chech facebook because they perceive it ad only taking a minute or two, when it may be more like 10 minutes. People are also billing 6 minutes for things that take less than 6 minutes, like reading an email. People are "value billing" -- if they reuse a motion that took 1 hour to draft the first time around, they are billing an hour. I agree with the pp who said you never know what work people are doing at home, but in my experience I suspected that colleagues were not actually billing that much tome at home.

Bobo

[Anonymous]

Bobo ? Sorry, that should be bottom line, people are doing what they think they need to do to keep their jobs. If you asked the firm management, they would be shocked, shocked that bill padding is happening. Like gambling in Casablanca.

[Anonymous]

To 6:55 - I agree. I lasted 6 years in biglaw. Management perceived that my hours were always low. My response was that I came in early and was efficient while I was there. I still ended up being in for 10.5 or 11 hours a day due to the partners' inefficiency. In house is a godsend - I can come in at 8, work out at lunch and still be out of here by 6 because I crank while I'm in.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, they're cheating. Bill padding (in a big way) is commonplace in Big Law, or at least at the firm I worked for for 9 years.

[Anonymous]

Some may be cheating. Others really may be working at home at night when there are fewer distractions. Still others may be meeting their hours in boom/bust cycles.

On that last note, I was a big firm litigator and I regularly had 250+ months with some 125 months in between. On the 125 months I looked slow, but in the 250+ months I was pulling all-nighters and only the people on my immediate team were around to see it.

FWIW, when I wasn't crazy slammed on a deadline (and therefore under too much pressure to procrastinate), I usually was in the office about 10 or 11 hours and billed 7-8 of them. Not an impressive yield, but I had a hard time focusing and being efficient if there wasn't a deadline smaacking me in the face.

The other factor is whether your practice involves working on many different matters/projects in a day (which means you lose productive billing time in the transition) vs. one big project at a time (researching/writing a sj brief or preparing for and defendind a deposition).

[Anonymous]

They all cheat, from partners to associates. Basically they count all the hours between the time they arrive until the time they leave the office, even if they take a 2 hour lunch. This is especially rampant in transactional practices (deal work), because the bill is only vaguely tied to the hours so no one seems to care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed with 6:55 - people are cheating. A lot of people "enter their time" at the end of the month and these are people who aren't keeping track of it on paper or whatever. People will bill an hour to a case that they "thought about" while driving home in traffic. They also might not to cutting out the time they spent chatting in front of the water cooler.

Of course, there are "down times" and work is cyclical. The longer you are out of law school and the longer you have been keeping track of your time, the less scrupulous you are about it.

Our company attorney used to bill for having a drink after work or attending an office party. One time he sent, without any reason, an article he "thought" president of Co. would find of interest and had the nerve to send a billl. Pres. wrote back that he did not ask for this article , didn't know it was sent, and had no intention of paying. After that, lawyer was no longer invited to office parties, drink after work and co. changed firms within 6 months. Just be honest and if your firm wants you to bill client whenever you even think about them, keep your honor and integrity, and get out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They all cheat, from partners to associates. Basically they count all the hours between the time they arrive until the time they leave the office, even if they take a 2 hour lunch. This is especially rampant in transactional practices (deal work), because the bill is only vaguely tied to the hours so no one seems to care.

This is cynical and not true of everyone. I've reviewed the bills and have plenty of colleagues with far more integrity than you describe. I've also seen partners cut time entries and call out colleages for inaccurate billing. Not all lawyers and firms are as unethical as you describe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They all cheat, from partners to associates. Basically they count all the hours between the time they arrive until the time they leave the office, even if they take a 2 hour lunch. This is especially rampant in transactional practices (deal work), because the bill is only vaguely tied to the hours so no one seems to care.

This is cynical and not true of everyone. I've reviewed the bills and have plenty of colleagues with far more integrity than you describe. I've also seen partners cut time entries and call out colleages for inaccurate billing. Not all lawyers and firms are as unethical as you describe.

I'm looking for that illusive "honest" lawyer, name, name of firm, tel. no., or email, please.