Rounding is a concept that we learn in math class at some point in elementary school, probably right after we learn about decimals. If your teacher gives you a decimal, like 5.8, and tells you to round to the nearest whole number, you learn that the right answer is 6, not 5. The only confusion [...]
Archive for the ‘Billable hours’ Category
The art of rounding
Posted in Billable hours on December 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Why the client’s “10 hour max” rule is stupid
Posted in Billable hours on December 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today’s post is dedicated to all the employees of the world who have jobs with rules that don’t make sense. Let me give you an example. I was at Disney World a few years ago. Yes, I am an adult; no, I don’t have kids; and yes, Disney World is far better than Disneyland. My [...]
Musings on when a billable day begins and ends
Posted in Billable hours on December 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I recently went to see a wonderful production of Romeo & Juliet. During the famous balcony scene, Juliet ponders, “What’s in a name?” As she discovers for herself, “it is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man.” This soliloquy prompted me to wonder, “What’s in a [...]
How to take vacation without using your vacation days – Part 2
Posted in Billable hours, Vacation on December 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
For those who have been following the posts from this week, by now you have learned how to “save” your vacation days if your firm has a 0.1 billable day policy, and the reasons why I believe this is actually a fair policy to the firm and to associates. But, you ask, what if my [...]
Billable hours: a spooky story
Posted in Billable hours on October 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Happy Halloween! To celebrate the day of ghosts and ghouls and haunted houses, I’ll share a short and spooky story about billable hours. I heard this story from another attorney, to whom this incident actually happened. Technically, that makes it hearsay (any exceptions? excitable utterance? voice emanating behind the walls?). Anyway, I digress… This particular [...]
Billable hours: the law of averages
Posted in Billable hours on October 30, 2009 | 4 Comments »
The law of averages states that, over a long period of time involving many occurrences of an event, the probable outcomes of that event will eventually “even out.” Let’s take this principle and apply it to attorney billing practices. We all know that, as human beings, we don’t always do things the most efficiently. If [...]
Billable hours: positive vs. negative accrual methods
Posted in Billable hours on October 28, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Over the years, I have talked to numerous attorneys, both partners and associates, about how they actually bill their time. I’ve also observed the actual practices of these attorneys. Today, I’m going to share with you techniques that other attorneys have employed to increase their billable time. In particular, we will discuss positive vs. negative [...]
Billable hours: art or science?
Posted in Billable hours on October 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
This week’s topic covers billable hours. Conceptually, it is a simple system: attorneys are supposed to bill the time that they spend working on a case in six minute increments, and enter the amount of time they bill into a software program that tracks and organizes the time. Sound simple? Realistically, it’s not. In fact, [...]
