You may have to work more than 48 hours a week on average if you work in a job:
They work anywhere from 20 to 80 hours per week depending on their clients’ and firms’ demands. It goes without saying that lawyers are unable to achieve a strict 9-5 job as in other professions. More often than not, a lawyer has to put in extra hours per week.
The work Most attorneys work about six days a week, generally fifty plus hours per week, and the norm now is to be available anywhere at any time. It is not uncommon during extreme times (trial, an important deal closing, etc.) for those hours to increase substantially and days off to become elusive.
These are the first things you should ask an attorney before your first meeting. Indeed, some attorneys will charge you for the initial consultation, so you should know that before you go in to get information and come out with a bill in hand.
37.5 is very standard.... It's 8-hour days with 30 min lunch breaks.
It's not uncommon for lawyers (especially Big Law attorneys) to work up to 80 hours each week. On average, according to the 2018 Legal Trends Report, full-time lawyers work 49.6 hours each week.
It appears to be the case that hours for junior associates in big law are terrible, involving 60-80+ hours / week, with common work on weekends and vacations, according to most Redditors. I've also read that minimum billable hours for big law tend to be around 1900 or so, with 2000+ being usual / recommended as well.
Those who make the largest contribution are the ones the firm is most likely to keep around when things slow down—or even if they do not. Attorneys are expected to work as many hours as they can to keep their jobs.
A day in the life of a lawyer is anything but a nine-to-five routine with an hour or more for a leisurely lunch. Bloomberg View reported that an attorney at a large law firm works anywhere from 50 to 60 hours a week on average. The long hours are the result of the obligations the practice of law imposes on an attorney.
Lawyers are one of the least happy careers in the United States. At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, lawyers rate their career happiness 2.6 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 7% of careers.
Typical associate chargeable hours in mega firms and large firms are 2,000-2,100 per year. However, the typical associate who is “in the hunt” for partnership – an ambitious-prime-time-player – are likely to bill 2,300-2,400 hours per year.
Lawyers, You Can Sleep When You're Dead Biglaw associates have to pull all-nighters quite frequently -- and sometimes they'll have to get by with very little sleep, for multiple nights in a row.
For example, if you want to reach a goal of 2,000 hours annually, you would need to bill for roughly 40 hours each week, or eight billable hours a day. You may not work exactly eight hours each day, but this breaks down what you should average in a day, week, and month to reach your annual goal.
Conclusion: This small preliminary study showed that the occupation of male trial attorneys does not shorten their lives, and that male attorneys, in general, do not have shortened lifespans compared with the general population.
The Stress Deadlines, billing pressures, client demands, long hours, changing laws, and other demands all combine to make the practice of law one of the most stressful jobs out there. Throw in rising business pressures, evolving legal technologies, and climbing law school debt and it's no wonder lawyers are stressed.
The truth is, lawyers work between 50 and 60 hours weekly on average. In fact, the many hours law students spend to get their degrees are both preparation and practice for them to work hard.
If you work at a medium sized firm on the other hand, you will probably work closer to 42-54 hours per week. The drawback though is that you may not make as much money at the medium sized firms as you can at the large firms, where even a starting lawyer can make around $150,000 per year.
If you work at a large firm, you are more likely to end up working those 66 hour + weeks (remember, since that was an average, that means a lot of people work more than 66 hours per week).
Lawyer. A lawyer represent clients in court and before government and private offices. When you’re not in court, you will be analyzing your clients’ situation to determine the best way to defend them. You [...]