Attorneys - Billable Hour ?

[Deleted]

How do you receive "credit" for your billables towards your yearly requirement? Do you receive credit for "raw" time before any time adjustments/writeoffs? Or only for adjusted time as it is billed/applied to the respective client?

We get reports from time to time, supposed to be monthly, but that doesn't happen. Sometimes I get credit for all time billed that month and sometimes I only get credit for time billed to the client after time adjustments are made. I was wondering what was the norm if there is one...

[DarcyLongfellow]

At my old firm, for meeting our hours we got credit for all time we put into the system, not the amount that was actually billed to the client. The difference, if there was one, affected your productivity, which was considered when the partners decided things like bonuses and promotions to the next associate pay level. This was a BigLaw firm in a medium sized city.

I would ask for clarification. That's a pretty big deal if you never know what your hours are for a particular month because you have no way of knowing what the partner billed to the client.

[Deleted]

I know what they are, I can see what I put into the system and the number of hours entered at the end of the month. Sometimes I get credit for that number and sometimes a lower number. There's no rhyme or reason as to when the partner sends out these reports. Sometimes its every month and sometimes it will be months before I see one. So there's no consistency as to whether I'm credited for the hours I enter into the system or the hours billed to the client.

[thedutchgirl]

Jul 9, 2012 19:01:51 GMT -5 v said:

All billable time put in the system, whether or not written off.

Write-offs count against you when you are up for partner or up for discretionary bonuses (for reaching higher hour thresholds than the one for the regular bonus).

Same. What's billed out to clients and then received affects my realization. But my base billable requirement counts everything I enter.

[Deleted]

What V said. I could look up my realization rate - which was always in the 90% range - but no one ever brought it up. Part of my realization rate took in to acct that certain clients had discounted rates, so it had nothing to do with my time being written off.

[thedutchgirl]

Jul 9, 2012 19:51:47 GMT -5 BirdGirl said:

What V said. I could look up my realization rate - which was always in the 90% range - but no one ever brought it up. Part of my realization rate took in to acct that certain clients had discounted rates, so it had nothing to do with my time being written off.

Same again. The only reduction in my realization is the discounted rates. If my realization rate were criticized as not high enough, I'd point out that I have absolutely no say in the discounted rates.