Law Firm - How to Handle "Temp Number" Abuse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't this something you can ask HR to deal with?

HR doesn't get involved in law firm billing (NP)

Yeah, don’t do that. Eek! The issue is whether this is just administrative noise, or whether bad-actor partners are screwing OP by making them do a bunch of work that should be billable but isn’t. At 100 hours YTD, I could see that going either way. At a minimum the temp stuff should get moved to business development or something if it’s not getting billed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you also charge to overhead? It sounds like they're trying to keep you on and employed during less busy times.

If only this charitable explanation were true. Time held in temp numbers does not count as hours for meeting the annual billing requirement. If someone were to pull my time today it would look like I am below capacity. Adding in the temp time, I am actually a little over capacity. Thus, the partners who are doing this is wrecking my stats, not helping me look better in less busy times.

This isn't fair, and you should get credit for it, whether it is billable or client development credit. But 100 hours over 2 years isn't "wrecking your stats."

Sorry, I misread. 100 hours YTD is a big deal, and definitely should be addressed. That'll have a non-trivial impact on your bonus (or continued employment).

[Anonymous]

My firms used temp numbers as well, sometimes in anticipation of a matter being opened but before clearing conflicts and getting a signed engagement letter. I lost maybe ~20 hours to unopened matters but I knew some associates who lost more. This doesn’t sound too unusual.

If one or two partners are big offenders then try to turn down the work or minimize your commitment (“Here’s what I came up with in a couple hours, I’m hesitant to do more at this point before we have an engagement letter given my other billable work, happy to return to this when the client signs.”). But if the partners who do this are big sources of your billable work you probably need to just suck it up and treat the hours like non-billable BD.

[Anonymous]

PP at 16:53. I also missed that this was 100 hours YTD which is a bigger concern, unless it was a one-time thing, which unfortunately happens.

[Anonymous]

Did the partner tell you to put it on temp time or did you assume that since they didn't give you a number? How long is the time sitting there unbilled?

I would do as someone above said and post it to a matter for same client and let the partner transfer it. people do that on my matters all the time it's not a big deal or ask their admin for the number or when the number is coming up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I would do as someone above said and post it to a matter for same client and let the partner transfer it. people do that on my matters all the time it's not a big deal or ask their admin for the number or when the number is coming up

That’s another solution. “I just billed this to Matter X instead, let me know when you have an engagement letter and I’ll have your assistant transfer the time.” It will piss him off if he’s taking advantage of you but you’ll get (some) credit and the firm will be aware of what he’s doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would do as someone above said and post it to a matter for same client and let the partner transfer it. people do that on my matters all the time it's not a big deal or ask their admin for the number or when the number is coming up

That’s another solution. “I just billed this to Matter X instead, let me know when you have an engagement letter and I’ll have your assistant transfer the time.” It will piss him off if he’s taking advantage of you but you’ll get (some) credit and the firm will be aware of what he’s doing.

This is not politically smart.

[Anonymous]

It's ostensibly a 'suspense' account by the way you explain it. And your accounting people should be looking for the balances to zero out at varying intervals. I've never heard of a law firm opting not to bill when billing is an option.

OP - Is the work you're doing directly to the benefit of clients - it's clear to you?

[Anonymous]

The partner can just write it off so the associate gets credit or if they are really a jerk they will just transfer it to a marketing number so they don't have to write it off and take the hit on their yield - associates are supposed to close out their time - if it was a few hours its one thing but 100 is alot to just give up if there was any ambiguity in what the partner told you to do that could justify closing it out on something other than a temp number i would close it on another number

[Anonymous]

You might need to become "too busy" with actual billable work.
Otherwise, you could bill it to business development with the partner's name in the notes. That way it would at least show up.

[Anonymous]

OP here. These comments are really helpful. I am going to talk to an equity partner (although in a different office) about this soon.

While a minor version of this situation happens a lot, it's usually just a few hours. This situation has several aggregating factors. For instance, it's been going on for months, has been a lot of substantive work, and is about to resolve favorably for the client. All signs point to this being a "favor" representation that the partner was never going to bill for.

Several comments mentioned that I should have mentors who I should have asked. I do, and I have asked. Unfortunately the advice I got was that the partner would open the matter eventually. All signs point to that advice being wrong.

[Anonymous]

Document it in your evaluation memo. Note your billable hours, and also all the other categories of hours assigned to you by partners and explanations. It isn't your fault the time wasn't billed; note who is assigning the hours. This goes for admin, development, and pro bono time too. Also indicate what skills you developed in that nonbillable work. Paint a full picture of how the firm is using your time.

Tracking this also helps you see who you want to got to to ask for more work, so you can legitimately turn down assignments from those who never bill your work (which you can't do if you aren't otherwise busy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would do as someone above said and post it to a matter for same client and let the partner transfer it. people do that on my matters all the time it's not a big deal or ask their admin for the number or when the number is coming up

That’s another solution. “I just billed this to Matter X instead, let me know when you have an engagement letter and I’ll have your assistant transfer the time.” It will piss him off if he’s taking advantage of you but you’ll get (some) credit and the firm will be aware of what he’s doing.

This is not politically smart.

It is also falsely billing another client matter.

[Anonymous]

Getting “credit” for time written off is a two edged sword because the write off reduces the person’s realization rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting “credit” for time written off is a two edged sword because the write off reduces the person’s realization rate.

Meh, the bigger problem is a partner using $80K worth of associate time without billing for it or intentionally writing it off.