mangopuppy
New member
...actual hours worked? I thought they bill for every thing that they do -- e.g., phone calls, time at the copying machine, etc. So if someone has 2000 billable hours a year, then why would their actual work hours be more?
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What do lawyers mean when they say billable hours are less than the numble of...
- Thread starter mangopuppy
- Start date
There is a fine balance between billing for actual hours worked and keeping your client from a competitor. A lot of times, a partner will cut an associate's hours for the final billing.
When I was an associate, we kept track of every bit of work we did in increments of 6 minutes. At the end of the year, there was a record of the time we'd put into the job. However, that did not necessarily mean we got credit for it in the final billing.
When I was an associate, we kept track of every bit of work we did in increments of 6 minutes. At the end of the year, there was a record of the time we'd put into the job. However, that did not necessarily mean we got credit for it in the final billing.
Because they don't always bill all their time. I work for lawyers and alot of the time, they don't charge for all their time. Or they don't charge for their assistant's times for photocopying and talking to the client. So they might invoice 2 billable hours, but the actual hours worked could have been 3 if they include their assistant's time.
Lawyers often don't bill for every hour they put in on a case. They may give a client a break or, if they are submitting hours for a court award of fees, they will ask for only what the court will consider reasonable. One example would be if a law firm sent 2 attorneys to a deposition and bills for only one attorney's time.