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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am totally confused.  All these threads on DCUM about how Big Law associates work a million hours a week, and therefore can't do any kind of help at home, and you were averaging under 60 hours a week as an associate, and even less now?

Is this really typical?  So, the people whining about how their Big Law spouses are never home, where are those people?

I always assumed it was more like 4,000 a year based on what I read here.  I am flabbergasted.
[/quote]

60 x 50 weeks (assume 2 weeks vacation) is 3k hours per year.  OPs DH is doing 2800 hours per year (2k billable) which is pretty close to 60 hours per week. [/quote]

But 60 hours a week isn't an insane workload like people make Big Law out to be.  Especially given that a Big Law associate can afford to live close in so they don't have a terrible commute, does some of that work from home and can flex around family responsibilities, and gets to work sitting down.

I always assumed from the whining that Big Law associates were working 80 - 90  hour weeks.  60 is a pretty common work week.[/quote]

Guess it depends on your practice area.  When things were busy I was working 12+ hours a day but when things were slow I was always worried about catching my next deal so I was in the office to be "available" to the partners to get more work.  Sometimes it just worked out that I was in the office for 8 hours with nothing to do and then a deal came up and I would work crazy hours for a few days.  My billable hours were usually around 2,000 per year but I was definitely in the office waiting for work or looking for work for much more than that.  Also sometimes I would just have to be in the office waiting while a partner reviewed my work and often that feedback comes at the end of the day so you're being available during the day but then doing more work in the evening.[/quote]

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