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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Let me ask a question and, since this is an anonymous board, am hoping lawyers here will be candid.

Simple question, asked in earnest:  Why do BigLaw lawyers have to work so much?  Why does the work take so long?

Or is the amount of time spent working (e.g., people working circa 60-65 hours a week, week in, week out) usually a reflection that you can bill it -- e.g. "If I work 12 hours a day, or can credibly bill it, I/we get paid for it and the money's good."  That is, the amount of work expands to fill up what the clients' tolerance for billing amount is.  If that's the answer, or an answer, there's nothing wrong with that and it would explain a lot. In place like D.C., people spend a lot of legal services. Supply meets demand, etc.

But, still, what takes so long?   Know a couple of lawyers (not kids either) and they'll groan something like "I worked from 9 am til 4 am the next day"  and I feel like saying doing [b]what[/b]?  What could possibly take so long?

Please explain.  Thank you![/quote]

Usually it is the volume of work needed and the short deadlines. Judges demand a novel issue to be briefed by the next morning when we already had a full slate of trial prep on the schedule; clients call and say "hey, we're doing a mass lay off tomorrow, can you assess the risk?" or "Just found out a low level manager forgot to forward this compliance letter up the chain and the deadline to respond has passed ...." or "We've had a cave in one of our mines ..." or "our CEO was just arrested in a brothel in Thailand." Meanwhile, the pile of normal work with less solid deadlines piles up on hold.

In other words, in many practice areas, people don't call the outside counsel until they have a crisis on their hands. So we jump from one client crisis to the other day after day after day, and you never know what tomorrow will bring. It is exciting, but not conducive to a lovely family routine and stress-free evenings with the kids.[/quote]

This has been my experience as well. Also, a lot of the client questions require pretty in-depth analysis of applicable statutes, regulations, and interpretative guidance. I think clients expect the answer to be an easy “yes” or “no” when they ask if they can do something and the answer is more often “maybe and here is a risk assessment.”[/quote]

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