Thread by @RMFifthCircuit

A good rant on hours and such.

A quick anecdote I might have told. As maybe a 2nd year associate, I went to complain to a partner that I'd billed 300 hours 3 months in a row, and I was about toast. First he said I was being whiny, but after a bit of that he noted that 1/

https://twitter.com/Surfdudeken03/status/1352117128866877446

Even at the sort of crazy place I worked, top performers used to bill 1800 hours a year. Partly, that had to do with the fact that the firm just needed to generate so much more $$$ to be competitive, but there was another thing - computers. 2/

I was in corporate then. So, he said, imagine how practice used to be. You'd get a proposed contract. You'd mark it up by hand. Late night. But then you gave it to the typing and redlining people. Reprieve. You'd do the cycle again. Late night. 3/

Then it would literally be put in an envelope and mailed to opposing counsel, unless they were down the street. In any event, the whole cycle took them a couple of days to get back to you. Or maybe you'd have a call first. Anyway, *those* nights you'd usually go home early. /4

Then they'd messenger or mail it back. Couple of tough nights.

But anyway, you see my point. Now, all of that cycle is compressed down to maybe even 24 hours. There is no downtime for a redlining person to manually redline your draft. Word or the redlining software does it. /5

And the pressure on the associates in particular caused by that speed up is *a lot*, all up and down the profitability pecking order. So when I talked to older Partners, maybe over a drink, they'd all admit the practice didn't even resemble what they did coming up.

There was just a lot more play in the joints. So much more.

I'll give another example. I worked for a partner who *only* edited by hand. But he also often left at 5 pm, and worked from a home in the countryside afterwards. So, hmm. We would print out the draft and literally have a paralegal drive it to him. a1/

The paralegal would sit on his porch or whatever while he worked (outside). Even in that version of the world, I got a few hours to snooze or eat or whatever.

Anyway, that... is not how the current partners work.

And of course I'm talking about the most elite firm where it was nothing to tell a paralegal to drive deep into Dutchess County in a limo to deliver a draft. At a firm that wasn't so rich, you'd just hand it to him in the AM. And thus, the play in the joints.

For all the hours discussions - I found a day of my informal notes from when I was very new. Two things to see - day started at 10ish. Ended at 3 am. But there was about 4 non-billed hours in the middle. I probably slept.

Anyway, this was completely debilitating. 0/10. Do not recommend. 😂