Most hours billed in a day/week/month Forum

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jun 03, 2018 1:56 pm

Anonymous User wrote:Second Year Corporate Associate:

Worst month: 240
Worst week: 85
Worst day: 20

I don't understand how people bill more. I felt physically and mentally terrible during my worst week and month.
This. I wonder how a client would feel knowing that they're paying $300/400 for hours 21-24 in a day. I can't imagine you're doing any work that couldn't be done much more efficiently the next day after some sleep. That applies even more so for hours 85+ in a week. How much work are you actually doing after a certain point?

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jun 03, 2018 3:29 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Second Year Corporate Associate:

Worst month: 240
Worst week: 85
Worst day: 20

I don't understand how people bill more. I felt physically and mentally terrible during my worst week and month.
This. I wonder how a client would feel knowing that they're paying $300/400 for hours 21-24 in a day. I can't imagine you're doing any work that couldn't be done much more efficiently the next day after some sleep. That applies even more so for hours 85+ in a week. How much work are you actually doing after a certain point?
In this hypothetical scenario, they are likely thrilled at having negotiated a 50% cut in normal billing rates...

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AT9

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by AT9 » Sun Jun 03, 2018 8:15 pm

My biglaw job is a cake-walk compared to the numbers here and I still feel over-worked/ready to quit. For those with such high records, what made you not rage/depression-quit?

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whats an updog

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by whats an updog » Sun Jun 03, 2018 11:31 pm

only a first year, but my max month was 240, spread evenly throughout the last three weeks of that month. i agree with the poster above that around 240 was nearing my max. much more and i feel like i would just be a detriment to whatever i was working on

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 04, 2018 9:55 am

Corporate associate at a V10. 5th year now, but this happened a while ago (2015):

Month: ~340 (included a few days of non-working vacation at the end of the month that spilled into the next month so otherwise would have been higher)
Week: ~105
Day: ~23 (actually, come to think of it, this happened the previous month, which was around 300 hours; during the peak month, I don't think I ever billed more than ~16 hours in a day but was working 7 days a week at a consistent 14-16 hours/day)

Reasons for not quitting: Clear light at the end of the tunnel (pre-scheduled vacation at the end, and more broadly I knew exactly when the work would end), and I also worked harder and longer than I needed to because I had just had a bad and stressful break-up of a multi-year relationship and was coping in part by working all the time to keep my attention off of it, so the work wasn't the worst part of my life at the time.

I've never billed more than 250 hours in a month in the three-ish years since that month.

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lawposeidon

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by lawposeidon » Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:36 am

Can ppl who billed crazy hours describe their routine that week/month?

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 04, 2018 12:10 pm

lawposeidon wrote:Can ppl who billed crazy hours describe their routine that week/month?

My worst month was 330 with about 20 hours of client development on top of that. Done 300+ on numerous occasions. The routine is pretty much work and sleep while cramming in essential personal activities wherever possible (further reducing sleep time). On months like these I average 4 hours of sleep a night after taking into account weekends.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by lawposeidon » Mon Jun 04, 2018 12:28 pm

My worst month was 330 with about 20 hours of client development on top of that. Done 300+ on numerous occasions. The routine is pretty much work and sleep while cramming in essential personal activities wherever possible (further reducing sleep time). On months like these I average 4 hours of sleep a night after taking into account weekends.[/quote]

Good God!

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sopranorleone

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by sopranorleone » Mon Jun 04, 2018 1:34 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
sopranorleone wrote:Former Latham corporate associate here. Left after 2 years to go in-house.

Latham (from what I can remember):
Month: 280ish
Week: 100
Day: 21

In-house:
Month: Lol really hard to say. Probably like 170 :D
Week: Probably 50
Day: 10
Are those in house numbers billed or worked? I didn’t think in house had to bill.
Worked. Although I have to say that I'm more consistently busy in-house, so I probably would "bill" like 90% of my time during the day.

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oblig.lawl.ref

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by oblig.lawl.ref » Mon Jun 04, 2018 3:20 pm

whats an updog wrote:only a first year, but my max month was 240, spread evenly throughout the last three weeks of that month. i agree with the poster above that around 240 was nearing my max. much more and i feel like i would just be a detriment to whatever i was working on
Agreed. I think a lot of numbers ITT are outrageous.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 04, 2018 3:26 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote:Second Year Corporate Associate:

Worst month: 240
Worst week: 85
Worst day: 20

I don't understand how people bill more. I felt physically and mentally terrible during my worst week and month.
This. I wonder how a client would feel knowing that they're paying $300/400 for hours 21-24 in a day. I can't imagine you're doing any work that couldn't be done much more efficiently the next day after some sleep. That applies even more so for hours 85+ in a week. How much work are you actually doing after a certain point?
Typically if you're doing hours 21-24 in a day it's because there's a deadline coming up and you literally can't just come back and do it in the morning. Sometimes that happens because of poor time management, but often it's because of clients setting unreasonable deadlines. And staffing more people isn't always the answer, because at a certain point you get too many cooks in the kitchen and it just makes things worse.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 04, 2018 4:08 pm

lawposeidon wrote:Can ppl who billed crazy hours describe their routine that week/month?
For me (~340 anon month above), it was just sleep, eat and work every day for a few weeks straight. I was still getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night but not doing anything else but work.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 04, 2018 5:56 pm

I'm the anon OP who billed 285 in May -- actual billables, no fudging. I would say that while May was quite uncomfortable, it wasn't hell either. I worked every day in May except taking two weekend days off total. Slept normal hours but every waking moment was working, eating, bathroom, or traveling to and from work, with maybe an hour to myself in the evening. No time to workout, but overall I'm feeling okay.

I can imagine 350+ being substantially worse, since that cuts into sleep time, and that's when it starts to get painful.

I say it's not hell, but mostly because of a few factors. I enjoy the people I work with (my superiors are nice and appreciative). As a mid-level M&A associate I'm staffed on a couple smaller deals where I have significant leeway to draft stuff and run things, so the work feels substantive with not a lot of criticism from higher ups. I also have a pretty high tolerance for work, have no kids, and am generally the sort of introverted personality who can read/play video games/binge youtube for days at a time, so work sometimes just feels like a mindless blur like the aforementioned.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 04, 2018 6:31 pm

I've hit about 280 3 times in 18 months.

I feel pretty comfortable I don't have to work past 2000/2300/2500 bonus milestones which gets me through the shitty months

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 04, 2018 7:48 pm

Second year, boutique.

Worst month: 180
Worst week: 55
Worst day: 12

I make a lot less than you guys, though.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 04, 2018 10:24 pm

This. I wonder how a client would feel knowing that they're paying $300/400 for hours 21-24 in a day. I can't imagine you're doing any work that couldn't be done much more efficiently the next day after some sleep. That applies even more so for hours 85+ in a week. How much work are you actually doing after a certain point?[/quote]

Typically if you're doing hours 21-24 in a day it's because there's a deadline coming up and you literally can't just come back and do it in the morning. Sometimes that happens because of poor time management, but often it's because of clients setting unreasonable deadlines. And staffing more people isn't always the answer, because at a certain point you get too many cooks in the kitchen and it just makes things worse.[/quote]

I'm the Anon from above - I get that. I would just think, for me, I would cap out at 20 hours. I wouldn't expect to get more accomplished in 21-24 hours than I would in 20 hours, assuming I used the remaining 4 hours to rejuvenate somehow (sleep, exercise, etc.). It's a minor point but something that jumped out at me. I could see myself trying to do that once or twice, then quickly realizing how counterproductive any work became at a certain point. I've only ever done that in undergrad, and the last few hours usually just undermined whatever I was doing.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jun 05, 2018 11:51 am

1st year (this was last year), Big law, secondary market.
Month: 356 hours
Week: 108 hours
Day: 18 hours

All of this happened in the same month. I was swapped into a deal the month an associate was taking time off for personal reasons. because of changes in the deal we had to re-do the disclosure schedules for a merger and change up some corporate docs. pretty stressful but also pushed me over the bonus requirement, which was a nice little present for the year end. too bad it all went to debt, but such is life.

This was definitely outside the norm, but makes up for my July when I billed a total of 20 hours and spent most days at my apartment building's pool.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by LitttUp » Sat Jun 16, 2018 10:47 am

Month: 330
Week: 97.5
Day: 17

This happened as a 1st year associate on a patent trial.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by DCESQ » Sat Jun 16, 2018 2:44 pm

17/92/308

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 16, 2018 3:10 pm

Corporate mid-level in SF/LA biglaw

Day: 22+ hours
Week: 103 hours
Month: 317 hours

The next time I hit anything close to 103 or 317 in a week or month, respectively, will be the point at which I give my notice. No job is worth that kind of hell.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Veronica2015 » Sun Jun 17, 2018 8:48 am

SFSpartan wrote:At a corporate/IP boutique now - my wost weeks/months/days were at a midlaw firm:

Month: 350ish (can't remember the actual number, but it was somewhere in there)
Week: 147
Day: 22.3 (I literally fell asleep on my keyboard on days 2 and 3 of a 3 day all-nighter, otherwise these would have been 24x2)

I was legitimately concerned that I would die after each of these. Maybe I'm just not as tough as others, but I don't get how anyone can work at that type of pace for more than 1-2 years.
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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Jun 17, 2018 8:58 am

My worst month was ~300 hours when we were in trial (strict billing and didn't bill when I was tied to my computer waiting for orders from the trial team). I had just come back from maternity leave though and wasn't getting more than 2 hours of sleep at a time because I was breastfeeding my child 3-4x a night, every night. I actually wanted to rage-quit because I was so exhausted and I felt like it was such a shitty move on the firm's part.

Not sure about my worst week: maybe 80-85 during said trial

Worst day: 16ish hours

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by SFSpartan » Mon Jun 18, 2018 5:10 pm

Veronica2015 wrote:
SFSpartan wrote:At a corporate/IP boutique now - my wost weeks/months/days were at a midlaw firm:

Month: 350ish (can't remember the actual number, but it was somewhere in there)
Week: 147
Day: 22.3 (I literally fell asleep on my keyboard on days 2 and 3 of a 3 day all-nighter, otherwise these would have been 24x2)

I was legitimately concerned that I would die after each of these. Maybe I'm just not as tough as others, but I don't get how anyone can work at that type of pace for more than 1-2 years.
Is this real??????
Yeah - I had 6 deals that were all on a short leash and all went at the same time. Since I had so much going on, I could bill pretty much every minute I was awake It was 1-4 hours of sleep per night, every night, for a week. I left for my current job, where I have a much more manageable workload, shortly thereafter.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 18, 2018 7:57 pm

Second Year Corporate Associate in NY.

Worst month: 407
Worst week: 121
Worst day: 23

I was in M&A throughout 2017. Caveat, for the rest of the year, I had two months at 260-270 and the rest involved much less work. I was breaking by the end of the month described above physically and psychologically, with the significant majority of said month being diligence-related (leading to a high time-to-billable ratio). My total hours for 2017 were roughly 1900.

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Re: Most hours billed in a day/week/month

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 18, 2018 8:33 pm

325 during a trial
Outside trial, 296

Interestingly, I got a “just checking on you” email after the first but not the second, so basically the firm was is fine if you bill 299 consistently. lol

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