You're welcome Kamryn.
The billable hour requirement is the total *minimum* number of hours that you must bill in a year. The quid pro quo is we give you $$ and you bill this number of hours to working on client matters. Forget about the 40 hour work week framework. You can bill your time anyway that you want. You can forgo all vacation and divide 52 weeks in a year by the total number of hours that you are required to bill and that is the number of hours that you must bill in a week. Or, if you plan to take, say 3 weeks vacation a year + 10 or so holidays that the firm is closed and you want to take off, that leaves about 47 weeks in a year so you divide the billable hour req by that. I don't plan to work on weekends so I then divide the weekly req by 5 (not 7) and this is on average the number of hours that I need to bill per day. Here is the ringer: *Billable* time is not hte time that you are at work; it is the actual time that you are working on client matters. Therefore, remove all of the time that you are staring out of the window, on lunch, taking telephone calls (if not regarding a client matter) b/c that time during the day is not billable. Here is an example. If your firm reqs 1900 hours billed per year and you take 3 weeks vacation and 10 holidays (Christmas, etc.) that your firm is not open and that you don't want to work at home or come in anyway, then you have 47 weeks in a year left. Divide 1900 by 47 and then divide by 5 days a week and you get about 8.1 hours that you need to *bill* per day on client matters. That does not include lunch, and all of the other stuff that I just listed above. It does not include the time that you may need to go and talk with your friend down the hall b/c you are tired of thinking and want to just relax for 15 minutes. It does not include time that you need to pay your bills or get on Greekchat.
If you come in, do your job and are pretty good and going from one thing to the next thing throughout hte entire day (whcih can be pretty mentally challenging for some) then you probably will work 9.5 min per day (if you take about a 30 minute lunch). If you like to wander the halls and shoot the breeze, and get on Greekchat for 15 minutes each hour, then you have to work 10 - 12 hours a day just to get 8.1 pure hours of billable time. You don't have to get it everyday, it's an average and most firms don't care when you get it as long as at the end of the year, you have it. But you don't want to fall to far behind b/c it's hard to make it up b/c mentally, it may be difficult to start working 7 days a week near the end b/c you are so far behind...and the work may not be there at that time (you can't bill time working if you don't have the work).
Does that make sense?
I tell everyone that my advice is to consider why you want to go to lawschool. Can you do the same thing with an M.S. or a Ph.D.? If you get a J.D. and take out loans for the whole thing, do you mind working in a firm environ (which can be a headache)? B/c it's hard to make $400/month student loan payments (which is the approx loan payment for a $100,000 student loan bill - but scholarships are out there - I got three and it does not have to cost that much) working at a non-profit or for the government. Think about what it is that you really want and what you're willing to do for it *after* lawschool. Sometimes a J.D. is not necessary to do what one wants to do but many people get it b/c they see it as prestigious. It's all a trade-off. PM me if you have other questions.
SC
Quote:
Originally posted by Kamryn
I'm always opened to good advice, especially from those who are where I want to be one day. I'm a first generation college student and there was a lot about college that I didn't know. But with the help of people like you, who were willing to take the time to give good advice, I've found my way through undergrad, and I have faith that I'll find my way through grad school and law school. Thank you.
I'm definitely planning on having a balanced life during school and work. I have too many other interests not to. In the future, I also want to have a family and be able to spend "quality" time with them. I don't want work to be all of my life, only a part of it.
I don't understand how billing hours work. I was thinking that it may have something to do with working 40 hours per week, which averages out to be about 1,600 hours per month. Then you mentioned "billing in excess of 2000 hours per year. " Does this mean that in addition to your regular 40 hours per day, some firms require working an extra 2,000 hours of overtime a year?
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