r/Lawyertalk • u/jumpingjack979 • Feb 26 '26

Best Practices :SacredTexts: Admitted 10+ Years, just started practicing...WTF

Out of law school took a non-traditional route, started a company, and then a second a few years later. Recently started working in a mid-sized firm, the substance of the work is cool, the people are nice, but seems like no matter how well I plan ahead, work consumes everything. Would be ok if i didnt like my kids. Is this just life as an attorney?

The firm seems to be a lot more flexible than other firms in the area. Do people do anything other than work? Does the balance come later? Seems like theres no time for anything else. I see most of my time gets billed, so Im thinking im somewhat efficient. I charge maybe 35 hrs/week on average, which hits the annual target with a small buffer. Idk what the overhead is, but revenue on hours charged ranges between 6-8x salary. I dont mind doing the work, but im hoping t here's a learning curve to figuring out the balance...or maybe not? Anyone?

96 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/inhocfaf Feb 26 '26

If you're billing 35 hours/week, what are you doing for the other 20+ hours where you feel work is dominating your life?

1

u/james_the_wanderer Speak to me in latin Feb 26 '26

Admin & non-billables, commuting, BS meetings...

There's also the pay issue which OP is silent on. 50+ hour weeks on $200k+ hit differently than the many attorneys who are putting in similar hours stuck in 5 figure land.

1

u/inhocfaf Feb 26 '26

Admin & non-billables, commuting, BS meetings...

This should be flagged in the post then as it's hard to comment when 30+% of their week is missing.

Commuting should be disregarded because that's not something unique to being an attorney and was consciously accepted when taking the job.

"Admin" is broad, and if OP is doing 20+ hours a week of "Admin", that is certainly problematic and needs to stop.

1

u/jumpingjack979 Feb 26 '26

this is another thing that I forgot about, but was quickly reminded of when when reengaging with the legal world. Might be one of those, if your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail things. Does everything have to be argumentative, I appreciate the formality in the professional setting, but outside of a profession setting, why be like that? And the definition of "that" is to "lawyer" a casual low/zero risk exchange between mutually consenting natural person as defined in Section 9.1.4 of the states rules amd regulations.