June 9, 2021
Attorney
· Press
· Technology
Understanding the Reality of Long Lawyer Working Hours
The entire law firm ecosystem is structured so that everyone inside of it—partners and associates alike—work as hard as they are capable of working, bill clients as much as possible, and do not stop working hard until they are fired, leave, die, go crazy, or retire.
Just about all large law firms have major corporate clients that are not as sensitive to large bills (and lots of hours) as smaller law firms. Smaller law firms typically will work for clients that are sensitive to bills.
If you are not emotionally involved, your client is not getting your best effort.
John Appleseed
The larger the law firm, the larger the clients.
The more prestigious the law firm is, the more rich and powerful the clients.
The more rich and powerful the clients, the more money they are willing to pay for legal services without batting an eye—through high hourly rates and lots of hours.
A Business Approach to Legal Service
What all this means is that the largest, most prestigious law firms typically have more work from higher-paying clients who can afford to have lots of legal work done. Some of the largest, most profitable companies have billions of dollars a year in revenue, pay bills promptly, and can afford to “turn on the tap” for lots of legal work. Whether it is associates writing endless memos, litigation that stretches on for years and years longer than it needs to for hundreds of thousands of dollars (or millions) per month, partners marking up countless drafts of deal documents—the large law firm will find work to be done.
Clients First
loomberg Law’s Attorney Workload and Hours Survey asked 1,554 lawyers how much they work, how much of that work they bill, how satisfied they are with their jobs, and how they are doing in terms of their personal well-being. Using the results of this survey, we are now able to profile the satisfied lawyer—and a surprising amount of lawyers are, in fact, satisfied at work!
Furthermore, while in-house lawyers report being more satisfied in their jobs than their law firm counterparts, more than half of law firm lawyers still report a satisfaction level of 7 or more on a scale of 0–10.
Lawyers Eat Up to 50 Percent of Hours They Work
It’s true. Lawyers work a lot of hours, and we have the numbers to back it up.
We’ve all heard horror stories of people working more than 100 hours in a week, and our results confirm this crushing reality. One-fifth of law firm lawyers report billing over 80 hours in their busiest week, and most of those that bill more than 80 hours actually work more than 100 hours in that same week.
But lawyers aren’t confined to one bad week per year. Respondents report working an average of 53 hours per week, with law firm lawyers working slightly more hours on average (54 hours) than in-house lawyers (51 hours). Junior and mid-level lawyers are working and billing more hours than senior lawyers, but senior lawyers experience the largest gap between hours billed and hours worked, working nearly 50% more hours than they bill.
Committed to Helping Our Clients Succeed
Most lawyers work long hours. Some do this simply to meet the minimum billable hour requirements set by their law firm. Other lawyers enjoy the work they do and the pay they receive to do it.
But many lawyers work long hours because they provide important legal representation to their clients. Fulfilling their obligations to clients keeps the legal system working correctly, improves the standing of the legal profession, and gives lawyers a sense of fulfillment and importance.
But working long hours can take a toll on a lawyer. The lawyer’s physical and mental health, relationships, and lawyer job satisfaction can suffer as the hours worked increase.
