ANALYSIS: Do More Years in Practice Mean More Non-Billables?

Most law firm attorneys—and possibly most law students—are familiar with firms’ billable hour requirements. What is possibly surprising (especially to new firm lawyers) is the amount of time you’ll invest in non-billable matters. And if you’re between the ages of 45 and 64, data from Bloomberg Law’s most recent Workload & Hours Survey suggest that you may spend more time on non-billable work than your younger colleagues.

Law firm survey respondents reported that on average, they accrued over 200 non-billable hours over the last six months. The survey didn’t ask these respondents to identify the types of non-billable work in ...