Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day? Forum

(On Campus Interviews, Summer Associate positions, Firm Reviews, Tips, ...)
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting

Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.

Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
User avatar
Mickfromgm

Bronze
Posts: 144
Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2017 11:40 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by Mickfromgm » Sun May 07, 2017 5:14 pm

Lasers wrote:i got lucky. i previously held a stressful job, but i've been with my current firm for about a year and it has been great.

i stroll into the office at 9:45-ish. on a typical day, i'll play madden mobile for an hour, i'll check in on my dating apps for about half an hour, i take an hour lunch, and i'll chit chat with my co-workers for about a half hour/an hour.

the rest of the time, i'll be on the phone making any necessary calls (opposing counsel or clients), sending out discovery, writing motions, or doing legal research. i'll be in mediation about once every 1-2 months, and i have a court hearing about once every month or two. i work weekends about once or twice every three months (mostly if there's a class cert motion).
Now you've done it -- your inbox will be full of resumes from the TLS users. lol

User avatar
stannis

Silver
Posts: 1274
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:01 am

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by stannis » Sun May 07, 2017 5:52 pm

Lasers wrote:i got lucky. i previously held a stressful job, but i've been with my current firm for about a year and it has been great.

i stroll into the office at 9:45-ish. on a typical day, i'll play madden mobile for an hour, i'll check in on my dating apps for about half an hour, i take an hour lunch, and i'll chit chat with my co-workers for about a half hour/an hour.

the rest of the time, i'll be on the phone making any necessary calls (opposing counsel or clients), sending out discovery, writing motions, or doing legal research. i'll be in mediation about once every 1-2 months, and i have a court hearing about once every month or two. i work weekends about once or twice every three months (mostly if there's a class cert motion).
Wow. What time do you leave? How's the salary? Billables?

User avatar
stannis

Silver
Posts: 1274
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2015 1:01 am

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by stannis » Sun May 07, 2017 5:52 pm

abogadesq wrote:New job. Totally different schedule than in my last job (litigator).

6:30: wake up; make breakfast, pack my lunch, and look decent
8:00: get to work; after the typical morning chit chat, begin the long slog of reviewing case files on a computer screen.
12:00: break for lunch; the head and eye pains from staring at the computer screen haven't started yet, but I can feel the strain.
12:45: back to reviewing again or start writing on the case.
2:00: head starts to hurt now; I can see my eyes red in the bathroom mirror. I have to get up and drink water every 45 minutes to relieve the pain.
5:00: review my work product and turn in anything completed to my supervisor.
5:45: arrive home light-headed and with a throbbing headache; this is relieved with evening exercise and tea.

It's hardly the longest day you can have. It's the sedentary work involving looking at a screen for hours and hours that gets me. Ugh.
Damn, that sounds pretty brutal. Have you been to an eye dr recently?

User avatar
Lasers

Gold
Posts: 1579
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2010 6:46 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by Lasers » Sun May 07, 2017 8:56 pm

stannis wrote:
Lasers wrote:i got lucky. i previously held a stressful job, but i've been with my current firm for about a year and it has been great.

i stroll into the office at 9:45-ish. on a typical day, i'll play madden mobile for an hour, i'll check in on my dating apps for about half an hour, i take an hour lunch, and i'll chit chat with my co-workers for about a half hour/an hour.

the rest of the time, i'll be on the phone making any necessary calls (opposing counsel or clients), sending out discovery, writing motions, or doing legal research. i'll be in mediation about once every 1-2 months, and i have a court hearing about once every month or two. i work weekends about once or twice every three months (mostly if there's a class cert motion).
Wow. What time do you leave? How's the salary? Billables?
75% of the time i'm out by 6:30; sometimes i'll leave by 6pm or other times i'll have something to do until 7 or 7:30 at latest. no hard billables (plaintiff side has its perks), but i try to hit 6-8 hours a day depending on the day and what needed to be done.

salary is very good for how little i work. base salary is about half biglaw market but with a very, very generous year end bonus (about double cravath's bonus for my year) that is always awarded. to be honest, my situation is very atypical for any firm, especially plaintiff-side firms. we're very small but 85% of our caseload consists of class actions/representative actions. i still apply to biglaw firms just to see if i can get an interview and to try to gauge how much money they could theoretically offer, though i don't know if i'd leave my situation even if i could.

User avatar
abogadesq

Silver
Posts: 589
Joined: Sun May 20, 2012 1:30 am

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by abogadesq » Sun May 07, 2017 9:58 pm

stannis wrote:
abogadesq wrote:New job. Totally different schedule than in my last job (litigator).

6:30: wake up; make breakfast, pack my lunch, and look decent
8:00: get to work; after the typical morning chit chat, begin the long slog of reviewing case files on a computer screen.
12:00: break for lunch; the head and eye pains from staring at the computer screen haven't started yet, but I can feel the strain.
12:45: back to reviewing again or start writing on the case.
2:00: head starts to hurt now; I can see my eyes red in the bathroom mirror. I have to get up and drink water every 45 minutes to relieve the pain.
5:00: review my work product and turn in anything completed to my supervisor.
5:45: arrive home light-headed and with a throbbing headache; this is relieved with evening exercise and tea.

It's hardly the longest day you can have. It's the sedentary work involving looking at a screen for hours and hours that gets me. Ugh.
Damn, that sounds pretty brutal. Have you been to an eye dr recently?
No, but I'm definitely going to go if it gets worse. On top of it, I think staring so long has made my eyesight worse. Law school all over again, lol

Want to continue reading?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Absolutely FREE!


User avatar
FullRamboLSGrad

New
Posts: 77
Joined: Thu May 07, 2015 6:47 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by FullRamboLSGrad » Wed May 10, 2017 10:07 am

abogadesq wrote:
stannis wrote:
abogadesq wrote:New job. Totally different schedule than in my last job (litigator).

6:30: wake up; make breakfast, pack my lunch, and look decent
8:00: get to work; after the typical morning chit chat, begin the long slog of reviewing case files on a computer screen.
12:00: break for lunch; the head and eye pains from staring at the computer screen haven't started yet, but I can feel the strain.
12:45: back to reviewing again or start writing on the case.
2:00: head starts to hurt now; I can see my eyes red in the bathroom mirror. I have to get up and drink water every 45 minutes to relieve the pain.
5:00: review my work product and turn in anything completed to my supervisor.
5:45: arrive home light-headed and with a throbbing headache; this is relieved with evening exercise and tea.

It's hardly the longest day you can have. It's the sedentary work involving looking at a screen for hours and hours that gets me. Ugh.
Damn, that sounds pretty brutal. Have you been to an eye dr recently?
No, but I'm definitely going to go if it gets worse. On top of it, I think staring so long has made my eyesight worse. Law school all over again, lol
Have you considered getting a new monitor? I had a really blurry cheap one that was giving me headaches (the awful fluorescent lights in my office didn't help) but then I complained and got two brand new large monitors with very good display. No headaches.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed May 24, 2017 8:29 am

abogadesq wrote:
stannis wrote:
abogadesq wrote:New job. Totally different schedule than in my last job (litigator).

6:30: wake up; make breakfast, pack my lunch, and look decent
8:00: get to work; after the typical morning chit chat, begin the long slog of reviewing case files on a computer screen.
12:00: break for lunch; the head and eye pains from staring at the computer screen haven't started yet, but I can feel the strain.
12:45: back to reviewing again or start writing on the case.
2:00: head starts to hurt now; I can see my eyes red in the bathroom mirror. I have to get up and drink water every 45 minutes to relieve the pain.
5:00: review my work product and turn in anything completed to my supervisor.
5:45: arrive home light-headed and with a throbbing headache; this is relieved with evening exercise and tea.

It's hardly the longest day you can have. It's the sedentary work involving looking at a screen for hours and hours that gets me. Ugh

Damn, that sounds pretty brutal. Have you been to an eye dr recently?
No, but I'm definitely going to go if it gets worse. On top of it, I think staring so long has made my eyesight worse. Law school all over again, lol
Try googling computer glasses on amazon. They block out the blue light from screens- some are hideous but some you can only see a light yellow tint. Game changers! I can't look at my screen without them now!

User avatar
charlesxavier

Bronze
Posts: 445
Joined: Sun Aug 02, 2009 10:51 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by charlesxavier » Wed Jun 07, 2017 12:47 pm

abogadesq wrote:
stannis wrote:
abogadesq wrote:New job. Totally different schedule than in my last job (litigator).

6:30: wake up; make breakfast, pack my lunch, and look decent
8:00: get to work; after the typical morning chit chat, begin the long slog of reviewing case files on a computer screen.
12:00: break for lunch; the head and eye pains from staring at the computer screen haven't started yet, but I can feel the strain.
12:45: back to reviewing again or start writing on the case.
2:00: head starts to hurt now; I can see my eyes red in the bathroom mirror. I have to get up and drink water every 45 minutes to relieve the pain.
5:00: review my work product and turn in anything completed to my supervisor.
5:45: arrive home light-headed and with a throbbing headache; this is relieved with evening exercise and tea.

It's hardly the longest day you can have. It's the sedentary work involving looking at a screen for hours and hours that gets me. Ugh.
Damn, that sounds pretty brutal. Have you been to an eye dr recently?
No, but I'm definitely going to go if it gets worse. On top of it, I think staring so long has made my eyesight worse. Law school all over again, lol
I went through something similar. I had never worn glasses before and when I got my eyes checked I definitely needed glasses. I paid extra for the coating for computer users. My headaches have been significantly better.

User avatar
elendinel

Silver
Posts: 975
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:29 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by elendinel » Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:25 am

circle.the.wagons wrote:Are there any biglaw patent guys here? The other posters seemed like they were in smaller firms. What kind of work should a patent guy expect right out of school (mainly pros or something else?) and what's a normal day look like? Thanks.
I'm suuuuuuper late to the party, but in case this is still helpful:

What kind of patent work you do right out of law school really depends on your background. In theory you can get into any of a pros, lit, or transactions group out of law school, so long as you tailor your summer experiences accordingly. They are all extremely different and you should definitely learn more about what makes them different before you commit to any particular path.

I can only personally speak to patent pros in terms of a normal day. My day in patent pros (NYC Biglaw) was generally get to work by 9, leave by 8 if I was efficient (later if I slacked off or fraternized with the rest of the group at any time during the day). Whether or not pros biglaw is a 9-6 job for you or not is probably largely going to depend on whether you get lucky enough to get tasked on the big budget clients or not. I was considered efficient so I was unfortunately not so lucky; I was put on a lot of low-budget clients, which meant I essentially lost 3-4 hours per day to the budget (my firm did not take kindly to "it's the partner's job to cut hours if necessary" philosophy).

There were days where I would do 2 OARs at ~4 hours each, which I'd have to round down to ~3 hours each because of my (ridiculously high) billing rate compared to the (ridiculously low) fixed budget; so out of the 8 hours I spent on the OARs, only 6 counted. Time to spend at least another 3-4 hours in the office on another OAR. Some clients would only pay for less than an hour of my time for IDSes, so even if I had a 20-page IDS to review (I couldn't prep them but I still obviously reviewed what my assistant did) I ate that time; there goes another half hour or more. Sometimes clients want $10k-caliber applications for $5k and sometimes you get a partner who doesn't have the backbone to tell them no (or who doesn't understand how long it takes to do substantive work anymore) and complains at you when you submit time over the $5k; you just lost maybe 10 hours for the month. On days where you're doing work for a client who pays their bills without complaint/has fixed fees that are reasonable, it's much better (9-7 even with slacking). Then if you do OARs for them you get to bill however long it actually takes, and move on.

My colleagues in patent lit would regularly spend 12-14 hours a day in the office, longer if something big was going on, so while I'd complain about my hours, they're still better than lit. I don't know the typical hours for the transactions team.

Want to continue reading?

Register for access!

Did I mention it was FREE ?


User avatar
Roy McAvoy

Bronze
Posts: 132
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2016 8:55 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by Roy McAvoy » Tue Jun 27, 2017 8:34 am

elendinel wrote:
circle.the.wagons wrote:Are there any biglaw patent guys here? The other posters seemed like they were in smaller firms. What kind of work should a patent guy expect right out of school (mainly pros or something else?) and what's a normal day look like? Thanks.
I'm suuuuuuper late to the party, but in case this is still helpful:

What kind of patent work you do right out of law school really depends on your background. In theory you can get into any of a pros, lit, or transactions group out of law school, so long as you tailor your summer experiences accordingly. They are all extremely different and you should definitely learn more about what makes them different before you commit to any particular path.

I can only personally speak to patent pros in terms of a normal day. My day in patent pros (NYC Biglaw) was generally get to work by 9, leave by 8 if I was efficient (later if I slacked off or fraternized with the rest of the group at any time during the day). Whether or not pros biglaw is a 9-6 job for you or not is probably largely going to depend on whether you get lucky enough to get tasked on the big budget clients or not. I was considered efficient so I was unfortunately not so lucky; I was put on a lot of low-budget clients, which meant I essentially lost 3-4 hours per day to the budget (my firm did not take kindly to "it's the partner's job to cut hours if necessary" philosophy).

There were days where I would do 2 OARs at ~4 hours each, which I'd have to round down to ~3 hours each because of my (ridiculously high) billing rate compared to the (ridiculously low) fixed budget; so out of the 8 hours I spent on the OARs, only 6 counted. Time to spend at least another 3-4 hours in the office on another OAR. Some clients would only pay for less than an hour of my time for IDSes, so even if I had a 20-page IDS to review (I couldn't prep them but I still obviously reviewed what my assistant did) I ate that time; there goes another half hour or more. Sometimes clients want $10k-caliber applications for $5k and sometimes you get a partner who doesn't have the backbone to tell them no (or who doesn't understand how long it takes to do substantive work anymore) and complains at you when you submit time over the $5k; you just lost maybe 10 hours for the month. On days where you're doing work for a client who pays their bills without complaint/has fixed fees that are reasonable, it's much better (9-7 even with slacking). Then if you do OARs for them you get to bill however long it actually takes, and move on.

My colleagues in patent lit would regularly spend 12-14 hours a day in the office, longer if something big was going on, so while I'd complain about my hours, they're still better than lit. I don't know the typical hours for the transactions team.

Thanks, this is great. What kind of face time requirement do most biglaw pros groups have (or at least yours)? I'm not in NYC, but most of the pros people here will leave by 6:30 or so and then log back on later if needed. Most of them have kids though, and I'm sure that's a factor, but I'm asking more generally.

Edit - a word

User avatar
elendinel

Silver
Posts: 975
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:29 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by elendinel » Tue Jun 27, 2017 9:37 am

Roy McAvoy wrote:
elendinel wrote:
circle.the.wagons wrote:Are there any biglaw patent guys here? The other posters seemed like they were in smaller firms. What kind of work should a patent guy expect right out of school (mainly pros or something else?) and what's a normal day look like? Thanks.
I'm suuuuuuper late to the party, but in case this is still helpful:

What kind of patent work you do right out of law school really depends on your background. In theory you can get into any of a pros, lit, or transactions group out of law school, so long as you tailor your summer experiences accordingly. They are all extremely different and you should definitely learn more about what makes them different before you commit to any particular path.

I can only personally speak to patent pros in terms of a normal day. My day in patent pros (NYC Biglaw) was generally get to work by 9, leave by 8 if I was efficient (later if I slacked off or fraternized with the rest of the group at any time during the day). Whether or not pros biglaw is a 9-6 job for you or not is probably largely going to depend on whether you get lucky enough to get tasked on the big budget clients or not. I was considered efficient so I was unfortunately not so lucky; I was put on a lot of low-budget clients, which meant I essentially lost 3-4 hours per day to the budget (my firm did not take kindly to "it's the partner's job to cut hours if necessary" philosophy).

There were days where I would do 2 OARs at ~4 hours each, which I'd have to round down to ~3 hours each because of my (ridiculously high) billing rate compared to the (ridiculously low) fixed budget; so out of the 8 hours I spent on the OARs, only 6 counted. Time to spend at least another 3-4 hours in the office on another OAR. Some clients would only pay for less than an hour of my time for IDSes, so even if I had a 20-page IDS to review (I couldn't prep them but I still obviously reviewed what my assistant did) I ate that time; there goes another half hour or more. Sometimes clients want $10k-caliber applications for $5k and sometimes you get a partner who doesn't have the backbone to tell them no (or who doesn't understand how long it takes to do substantive work anymore) and complains at you when you submit time over the $5k; you just lost maybe 10 hours for the month. On days where you're doing work for a client who pays their bills without complaint/has fixed fees that are reasonable, it's much better (9-7 even with slacking). Then if you do OARs for them you get to bill however long it actually takes, and move on.

My colleagues in patent lit would regularly spend 12-14 hours a day in the office, longer if something big was going on, so while I'd complain about my hours, they're still better than lit. I don't know the typical hours for the transactions team.

Thanks, this is great. What kind of face time requirement do most biglaw pros groups have (or at least yours)? I'm not in NYC, but most of the pros people here will leave by 6:30 or so and then log back on later if needed. Most of them have kids though, and I'm sure that's a factor, but I'm asking more generally.

Edit - a word
It's really going to depend on the firm and the partners you work with. A lot of my work ended up being remote, so I personally didn't have much of a face time requirement (I just hate the idea of doing work at home unless absolutely necessary). But when I worked more with people in my office, there was more of an expectation that you're there every day and that you're there until the partners left, unless you had kids at home. If you have partners who come in at 7 then this means no one's going to be around to judge you if you leave at 6:30; but I did for several years work for a partner who came in at 2PM or later and left at midnight, and I was pretty much expected to be there until 10/11 on those days regardless of what time I came in. A colleague of mine was judged by partners/associates in the office because he'd work from home once a week (no kids/health issues/etc.), and the same partners/associates got judgy when anyone tried to leave at 5:30/6, even if they were planning to log in remotely.

Whether or not working from home is feasible or not also depends on your clients. I did a lot of foreign work with clients/inventors in China/India/Japan; so there would be a lot of 8-9PM calls to discuss things. If you have an office at home then this may be okay, but I don't see the average person who actually lives in NY really being able to have these calls at home if they have kids/pets/etc.

User avatar
Roy McAvoy

Bronze
Posts: 132
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2016 8:55 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by Roy McAvoy » Tue Jun 27, 2017 3:11 pm

elendinel wrote:
Roy McAvoy wrote:
elendinel wrote:
circle.the.wagons wrote:Are there any biglaw patent guys here? The other posters seemed like they were in smaller firms. What kind of work should a patent guy expect right out of school (mainly pros or something else?) and what's a normal day look like? Thanks.
I'm suuuuuuper late to the party, but in case this is still helpful:

What kind of patent work you do right out of law school really depends on your background. In theory you can get into any of a pros, lit, or transactions group out of law school, so long as you tailor your summer experiences accordingly. They are all extremely different and you should definitely learn more about what makes them different before you commit to any particular path.

I can only personally speak to patent pros in terms of a normal day. My day in patent pros (NYC Biglaw) was generally get to work by 9, leave by 8 if I was efficient (later if I slacked off or fraternized with the rest of the group at any time during the day). Whether or not pros biglaw is a 9-6 job for you or not is probably largely going to depend on whether you get lucky enough to get tasked on the big budget clients or not. I was considered efficient so I was unfortunately not so lucky; I was put on a lot of low-budget clients, which meant I essentially lost 3-4 hours per day to the budget (my firm did not take kindly to "it's the partner's job to cut hours if necessary" philosophy).

There were days where I would do 2 OARs at ~4 hours each, which I'd have to round down to ~3 hours each because of my (ridiculously high) billing rate compared to the (ridiculously low) fixed budget; so out of the 8 hours I spent on the OARs, only 6 counted. Time to spend at least another 3-4 hours in the office on another OAR. Some clients would only pay for less than an hour of my time for IDSes, so even if I had a 20-page IDS to review (I couldn't prep them but I still obviously reviewed what my assistant did) I ate that time; there goes another half hour or more. Sometimes clients want $10k-caliber applications for $5k and sometimes you get a partner who doesn't have the backbone to tell them no (or who doesn't understand how long it takes to do substantive work anymore) and complains at you when you submit time over the $5k; you just lost maybe 10 hours for the month. On days where you're doing work for a client who pays their bills without complaint/has fixed fees that are reasonable, it's much better (9-7 even with slacking). Then if you do OARs for them you get to bill however long it actually takes, and move on.

My colleagues in patent lit would regularly spend 12-14 hours a day in the office, longer if something big was going on, so while I'd complain about my hours, they're still better than lit. I don't know the typical hours for the transactions team.

Thanks, this is great. What kind of face time requirement do most biglaw pros groups have (or at least yours)? I'm not in NYC, but most of the pros people here will leave by 6:30 or so and then log back on later if needed. Most of them have kids though, and I'm sure that's a factor, but I'm asking more generally.

Edit - a word
It's really going to depend on the firm and the partners you work with. A lot of my work ended up being remote, so I personally didn't have much of a face time requirement (I just hate the idea of doing work at home unless absolutely necessary). But when I worked more with people in my office, there was more of an expectation that you're there every day and that you're there until the partners left, unless you had kids at home. If you have partners who come in at 7 then this means no one's going to be around to judge you if you leave at 6:30; but I did for several years work for a partner who came in at 2PM or later and left at midnight, and I was pretty much expected to be there until 10/11 on those days regardless of what time I came in. A colleague of mine was judged by partners/associates in the office because he'd work from home once a week (no kids/health issues/etc.), and the same partners/associates got judgy when anyone tried to leave at 5:30/6, even if they were planning to log in remotely.

Whether or not working from home is feasible or not also depends on your clients. I did a lot of foreign work with clients/inventors in China/India/Japan; so there would be a lot of 8-9PM calls to discuss things. If you have an office at home then this may be okay, but I don't see the average person who actually lives in NY really being able to have these calls at home if they have kids/pets/etc.
Makes sense. Thanks.

User avatar
circle.the.wagons

Bronze
Posts: 140
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2016 2:22 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by circle.the.wagons » Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:41 am

Roy McAvoy wrote:
elendinel wrote:
Roy McAvoy wrote:
elendinel wrote:
circle.the.wagons wrote:Are there any biglaw patent guys here? The other posters seemed like they were in smaller firms. What kind of work should a patent guy expect right out of school (mainly pros or something else?) and what's a normal day look like? Thanks.
I'm suuuuuuper late to the party, but in case this is still helpful:

What kind of patent work you do right out of law school really depends on your background. In theory you can get into any of a pros, lit, or transactions group out of law school, so long as you tailor your summer experiences accordingly. They are all extremely different and you should definitely learn more about what makes them different before you commit to any particular path.

I can only personally speak to patent pros in terms of a normal day. My day in patent pros (NYC Biglaw) was generally get to work by 9, leave by 8 if I was efficient (later if I slacked off or fraternized with the rest of the group at any time during the day). Whether or not pros biglaw is a 9-6 job for you or not is probably largely going to depend on whether you get lucky enough to get tasked on the big budget clients or not. I was considered efficient so I was unfortunately not so lucky; I was put on a lot of low-budget clients, which meant I essentially lost 3-4 hours per day to the budget (my firm did not take kindly to "it's the partner's job to cut hours if necessary" philosophy).

There were days where I would do 2 OARs at ~4 hours each, which I'd have to round down to ~3 hours each because of my (ridiculously high) billing rate compared to the (ridiculously low) fixed budget; so out of the 8 hours I spent on the OARs, only 6 counted. Time to spend at least another 3-4 hours in the office on another OAR. Some clients would only pay for less than an hour of my time for IDSes, so even if I had a 20-page IDS to review (I couldn't prep them but I still obviously reviewed what my assistant did) I ate that time; there goes another half hour or more. Sometimes clients want $10k-caliber applications for $5k and sometimes you get a partner who doesn't have the backbone to tell them no (or who doesn't understand how long it takes to do substantive work anymore) and complains at you when you submit time over the $5k; you just lost maybe 10 hours for the month. On days where you're doing work for a client who pays their bills without complaint/has fixed fees that are reasonable, it's much better (9-7 even with slacking). Then if you do OARs for them you get to bill however long it actually takes, and move on.

My colleagues in patent lit would regularly spend 12-14 hours a day in the office, longer if something big was going on, so while I'd complain about my hours, they're still better than lit. I don't know the typical hours for the transactions team.

Thanks, this is great. What kind of face time requirement do most biglaw pros groups have (or at least yours)? I'm not in NYC, but most of the pros people here will leave by 6:30 or so and then log back on later if needed. Most of them have kids though, and I'm sure that's a factor, but I'm asking more generally.

Edit - a word
It's really going to depend on the firm and the partners you work with. A lot of my work ended up being remote, so I personally didn't have much of a face time requirement (I just hate the idea of doing work at home unless absolutely necessary). But when I worked more with people in my office, there was more of an expectation that you're there every day and that you're there until the partners left, unless you had kids at home. If you have partners who come in at 7 then this means no one's going to be around to judge you if you leave at 6:30; but I did for several years work for a partner who came in at 2PM or later and left at midnight, and I was pretty much expected to be there until 10/11 on those days regardless of what time I came in. A colleague of mine was judged by partners/associates in the office because he'd work from home once a week (no kids/health issues/etc.), and the same partners/associates got judgy when anyone tried to leave at 5:30/6, even if they were planning to log in remotely.

Whether or not working from home is feasible or not also depends on your clients. I did a lot of foreign work with clients/inventors in China/India/Japan; so there would be a lot of 8-9PM calls to discuss things. If you have an office at home then this may be okay, but I don't see the average person who actually lives in NY really being able to have these calls at home if they have kids/pets/etc.
Makes sense. Thanks.
Woah tons of info, thanks! Didn't realize patent was quite so many hours, but such is life.

Of course I realize prosecuting is a good feather to have in one's cap, but I probably will want to focus on transactional work long term (I'd be open to trying lit, but I'm not positive if that is a good match for my personality type). How can I tailor my summer experiences in LS to focus on that? In my experience as a new employee/intern, you usually have to take what work you can get. Plus because of the fact that I am already patent bar registered, I don't want to get pigeon-holed into prosecuting.

Register now!

Resources to assist law school applicants, students & graduates.

It's still FREE!


User avatar
elendinel

Silver
Posts: 975
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:29 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by elendinel » Wed Jun 28, 2017 12:07 pm

circle.the.wagons wrote:Woah tons of info, thanks! Didn't realize patent was quite so many hours, but such is life.

Of course I realize prosecuting is a good feather to have in one's cap, but I probably will want to focus on transactional work long term (I'd be open to trying lit, but I'm not positive if that is a good match for my personality type). How can I tailor my summer experiences in LS to focus on that? In my experience as a new employee/intern, you usually have to take what work you can get. Plus because of the fact that I am already patent bar registered, I don't want to get pigeon-holed into prosecuting.
I will say that pros people outside of big law have much better QoL than people in biglaw (in terms of hours/etc.); biglaw's revenue model just doesn't really work with the reality of the current pros market. Lit is lit.

Transactions is the one I have the least personal or secondhand experience in, so unfortunately I'm not sure what they look for. In biglaw I don't think you have to worried about getting put into pros despite lack of interest; pros attorneys don't generate as much revenue as other attorneys, so they'd probably only make you pros is if you are adamant that it's what you want to do, or if someone quits and they urgently need a body to fill the spot. I'd imagine any transactions experience (patent or not) would help you stand out.

User avatar
Ronan

Gold
Posts: 2080
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:58 am

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by Ronan » Sat Jul 08, 2017 1:51 pm

State prosecutor:

6:00 wake up, shower, eat breakfast
7:15 leave for work
7:45 arrive at office (office doesn't open into 8:30 but I like to get in early and chill)
8:45 head down to court for pleas, hearings, et ceteta
11ish: get back from court, send out discovery, talk to cops about cases, work on motions
12-1: eat lunch
1:15: head back to court for more hearings, etc
3ish: get back to office and do more discovery stuff, shoot shit with people
5: head home

Days are different during trial week (once a month) and sometimes I have to go to district courts to do prelims or be on-call, but it's a pretty fun life. No day is the same.

Anonymous User
Posts: 427956
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jul 08, 2017 5:58 pm

Ronan wrote:State prosecutor:

6:00 wake up, shower, eat breakfast
7:15 leave for work
7:45 arrive at office (office doesn't open into 8:30 but I like to get in early and chill)
8:45 head down to court for pleas, hearings, et ceteta
11ish: get back from court, send out discovery, talk to cops about cases, work on motions
12-1: eat lunch
1:15: head back to court for more hearings, etc
3ish: get back to office and do more discovery stuff, shoot shit with people
5: head home

Days are different during trial week (once a month) and sometimes I have to go to district courts to do prelims or be on-call, but it's a pretty fun life. No day is the same.
Can you tell us more about the "discovery" aspect of your day to day work. What kind of discovery related items are you doing as a state prosecutor? Are you expected to do them all on your own or does a legal assistant help with discovery.

I guess I'm just looking for examples.

User avatar
Ronan

Gold
Posts: 2080
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 11:58 am

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by Ronan » Sat Jul 08, 2017 8:55 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Ronan wrote:State prosecutor:

6:00 wake up, shower, eat breakfast
7:15 leave for work
7:45 arrive at office (office doesn't open into 8:30 but I like to get in early and chill)
8:45 head down to court for pleas, hearings, et ceteta
11ish: get back from court, send out discovery, talk to cops about cases, work on motions
12-1: eat lunch
1:15: head back to court for more hearings, etc
3ish: get back to office and do more discovery stuff, shoot shit with people
5: head home

Days are different during trial week (once a month) and sometimes I have to go to district courts to do prelims or be on-call, but it's a pretty fun life. No day is the same.
Can you tell us more about the "discovery" aspect of your day to day work. What kind of discovery related items are you doing as a state prosecutor? Are you expected to do them all on your own or does a legal assistant help with discovery.

I guess I'm just looking for examples.
Sure, the secretaries coordinate getting discovery requests from defense counsel and then they request stuff from police. They then receive it from police and redact anything that should be redacted. I then look at the redacted versions and redact anything else (99% of the time I need to redact a few things). I then sign off on it and send it to defense counsel with a plea offer.

Get unlimited access to all forums and topics

Register now!

I'm pretty sure I told you it's FREE...


User avatar
HillandHollow

Bronze
Posts: 190
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2017 2:43 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by HillandHollow » Mon Jul 10, 2017 10:50 am

Fellow/Adjunct Professor in a legal aid clinic doing post-conviction/habeas litigation type stuff.
We have several dozen clients all in various stages of litigation: investigation, discovery, impending hearing, whatever. In addition to the active representation, we also do amicus briefs and memos for use by the local bar, and I am working on some mostly unrelated academic writing.

Here is a typical in-office day:

6:30 am -- wake up, coffee, etc.
8:30 am -- walk to work (I have a car, I just got used to walking everywhere during law school)
9:00 am -- Meet with students/interns, make sure everyone has their tasks lined up for the day
9:30 -- Respond to emails/phone calls from clients and other attorneys
10:00 -- Work on briefs/responses/discovery, etc.
12:00-- Lunch, go for a walk, hang out with students in the clinic
1:00 -- More hands on with the students. Reading and editing their work, making investigation strategies, identifying legal arguments, etc.
3:00 -- Teach seminar
5:00 -- Respond to any calls or emails that came in since this morning
5:30 -- Work on briefs/responses/discovery, etc.
6:30 -- Home/gym/whatever

Of course, there are also days in which I spend 12 hours inside of a prison, or driving around trying to locate a witness, or never leave my desk because a response is due. But the above is my average in-office day. I don't *have* to work weekends, but I usually put in 4 or 5 hours because I honestly don't have anything else to do besides go to the gym. Working the weekend days is nice, because no one is around, and no one expects an answer to an email, so I can focus on whatever I want. And since it isn't an expectation, I can also spend the weekend hiking and kayaking if I so desire.

ETA: on days without a seminar, I spend that time on research and writing for our cases.

User avatar
ilovesf

Diamond
Posts: 12837
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:20 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by ilovesf » Mon Jul 10, 2017 12:11 pm

Looks like a pretty chill job, hollow

User avatar
HillandHollow

Bronze
Posts: 190
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2017 2:43 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by HillandHollow » Sat Jul 22, 2017 12:51 pm

ilovesf wrote:Looks like a pretty chill job, hollow

It definitely is. It's also a defined term with no possibility of extension, and it pays next to nothing. Trade offs.

User avatar
prezidentv8

Gold
Posts: 2823
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:33 am

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by prezidentv8 » Sat Jul 29, 2017 2:53 am

ilovesf wrote:Looks like a pretty chill job, hollow
Oh hey you're still here! I just kinda randomly started surfing around the boards when I'm bored again recently.

Communicate now with those who not only know what a legal education is, but can offer you worthy advice and commentary as you complete the three most educational, yet challenging years of your law related post graduate life.

Register now, it's still FREE!


User avatar
ilovesf

Diamond
Posts: 12837
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:20 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by ilovesf » Sat Jul 29, 2017 1:09 pm

prezidentv8 wrote:
ilovesf wrote:Looks like a pretty chill job, hollow
Oh hey you're still here! I just kinda randomly started surfing around the boards when I'm bored again recently.
What else am I supposed to do when I'm bored at work!

User avatar
prezidentv8

Gold
Posts: 2823
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 5:33 am

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by prezidentv8 » Mon Jul 31, 2017 1:14 am

ilovesf wrote:
prezidentv8 wrote:
ilovesf wrote:Looks like a pretty chill job, hollow
Oh hey you're still here! I just kinda randomly started surfing around the boards when I'm bored again recently.
What else am I supposed to do when I'm bored at work!
Haha fair point.

gaddockteeg

Bronze
Posts: 439
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2014 5:33 pm

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by gaddockteeg » Wed Aug 30, 2017 1:49 pm

I felt like I needed to add a contribution because the other junior big law associate days look pretty terrible and I'm fairly certain there is either (1) some exaggeration going on, (2) contributors picking atypical days, or (3) my firm is the best firm in the world.

I am in a v20 in DC, doing white collar litigation/investigations work.

While there isn't a typical day, my life yesterday was:

Wake up at 8:30am.
930-10: get to work and check emails and respond to immediate things. Also BS around by reading/skimming random articles about legal developments that are somewhat related to my practice area.
10-2: Morning/noon is when I'm most productive and sharpest so I usually work from 10 until lunch on the whatever the most difficult task of the day is. Yesterday, this was researching some really off topic issue for an expert rebuttal report and drafting a memo.
2-3: I fired off the short memo to the senior associate at 2 and then went to lunch with a friend of mine who works at bigfed. I find that its a lot easier to coordinate lunch with bigfed folks than my big law friends. We had scheduled for lunch at 1:30 (nothing fancy, chipotle) but I didn't finish in time so we pushed to 2:15 and my friend was very willing to accommodate. I go to lunch with colleagues/friends around 2-3x a week. I think it helps me stay in touch with folks and i partly see it as a future investment.
3-330: Back to my office at 3. I respond to a senior associate's quesiton about a random doc and I hunt thorugh our document productions to answer his question.
330-4: I'm pretty active in ABA so I have a phone conference about an ABA thing @330.
4-6: 3-6 in general is when I'm least productive so I save things like doc review and the like for this time. Yesterday I worked on dioscovery responses from 4-6.
6-730: After 6 is usually when I feel productive/sharp again. Yesterday I used this time to incorporate the memo and senior aossicate's comments on it, into the rebuttal report.
730: I go home. My office clears out by 6:30p and I usually stay later than most.
730-9: I'm at the gym. It's a block from the office and on the way home. I love working out and go to the gym 4x a week (2x M-F and then both sat and sun). I used to play rugby religiously so I don't feel right if I haven't been in the gym in awhile. I don't play anymore but I still squat heavy, deadlift often and bench 300+ for reps (non-humble brag). On non-gym days, I get home at 7:45.
915: I get home and eat while I'm on the computer. I usually tie up loose ends from 9:15 until 10.
10-11: I use this time to do tasks around the apartment. laundry, light cleaning, online shopping, etc. I just got engaged earlier this summer so lately I've been spending this time with wedding invites.
11-12: I always watch mindless TV (currently watching the office reruns on Netflix) to help me turn my brain off before sleeping.

User avatar
SeewhathappensLarry

Bronze
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 10:25 am

Re: Lawyers: What's Your Typical Day?

Post by SeewhathappensLarry » Wed Aug 30, 2017 2:07 pm

gaddockteeg wrote:I felt like I needed to add a contribution because the other junior big law associate days look pretty terrible and I'm fairly certain there is either (1) some exaggeration going on, (2) contributors picking atypical days, or (3) my firm is the best firm in the world.

I am in a v20 in DC, doing white collar litigation/investigations work.

While there isn't a typical day, my life yesterday was:

Wake up at 8:30am.
930-10: get to work and check emails and respond to immediate things. Also BS around by reading/skimming random articles about legal developments that are somewhat related to my practice area.
10-2: Morning/noon is when I'm most productive and sharpest so I usually work from 10 until lunch on the whatever the most difficult task of the day is. Yesterday, this was researching some really off topic issue for an expert rebuttal report and drafting a memo.
2-3: I fired off the short memo to the senior associate at 2 and then went to lunch with a friend of mine who works at bigfed. I find that its a lot easier to coordinate lunch with bigfed folks than my big law friends. We had scheduled for lunch at 1:30 (nothing fancy, chipotle) but I didn't finish in time so we pushed to 2:15 and my friend was very willing to accommodate. I go to lunch with colleagues/friends around 2-3x a week. I think it helps me stay in touch with folks and i partly see it as a future investment.
3-330: Back to my office at 3. I respond to a senior associate's quesiton about a random doc and I hunt thorugh our document productions to answer his question.
330-4: I'm pretty active in ABA so I have a phone conference about an ABA thing @330.
4-6: 3-6 in general is when I'm least productive so I save things like doc review and the like for this time. Yesterday I worked on dioscovery responses from 4-6.
6-730: After 6 is usually when I feel productive/sharp again. Yesterday I used this time to incorporate the memo and senior aossicate's comments on it, into the rebuttal report.
730: I go home. My office clears out by 6:30p and I usually stay later than most.
730-9: I'm at the gym. It's a block from the office and on the way home. I love working out and go to the gym 4x a week (2x M-F and then both sat and sun). I used to play rugby religiously so I don't feel right if I haven't been in the gym in awhile. I don't play anymore but I still squat heavy, deadlift often and bench 300+ for reps (non-humble brag). On non-gym days, I get home at 7:45.
915: I get home and eat while I'm on the computer. I usually tie up loose ends from 9:15 until 10.
10-11: I use this time to do tasks around the apartment. laundry, light cleaning, online shopping, etc. I just got engaged earlier this summer so lately I've been spending this time with wedding invites.
11-12: I always watch mindless TV (currently watching the office reruns on Netflix) to help me turn my brain off before sleeping.

What's a non-gym day? Jk this sounds pretty chill. What year are you?

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!


Post Reply Post Anonymous Reply  

Return to “Legal Employment”