Partners, Associates Have Totally Different Views on Long Hours

Welcome back to the Big Law Business column. I’m Roy Strom, and today we look at lawyers’ satisfaction with logging lots of billable hours. Sign up to receive this column in your Inbox on Thursday mornings.

I’m going to tell you two stories about two different law firm partners.

Partner A is a grinder. This person eats, sleeps, and breathes billable hours. In fact, they billed more than 40 hours per week in every single week last year. It tallied up to 2,400 hours.

Partner B works differently. The job’s important, but logging hours isn’t exactly this partner’s specialty. They billed about 29 hours a week last year. It totaled 1,500 hours.

Now, here’s a question: When these partners get their paychecks, who is more satisfied?

It turns out that both are just as happy.

That’s according to a long-running survey of partners conducted by recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa. The latest survey, released last week, shows 77% of partners who billed more than 2,400 hours were at least “slightly satisfied” with their compensation. Among partners who billed fewer than 1,500 hours, 74% reported being some level of satisfied with their wages.

The responses were virtually similar across all levels of billable hours. The survey included responses from more than 1,700 partners.

It’s easy to assume that is because partners who bill more hours earn vastly more than their lower-billing peers. But that’s not necessarily the case.

Higher compensation is most closely linked with higher origination (bringing in work) and higher billable rates (the cost to clients), the survey found.

“When we did the regression analysis, billable hours alone did not correlate to a statistically higher compensation,” Karen Andersen, an MLA partner who helped with the survey, told me.

That doesn’t seem like a bad thing: Big Law partners appear to like the deals they have with their firms. Whatever they’re earning, and for whatever reasons, most seem to think the time they’re investing billing hours is worth it.

But the survey results also highlight a stark divergence with associates. Those junior lawyers routinely report feeling overworked.

In a separate survey of “Gen-Z” associates, more than half of the lawyers told Major, Lindsey & Africa they’d trade a portion of their salary for fewer billable hours. The other most popular answers were time off and a more flexible work schedule.

In other words, many associates don’t feel like they’re getting a good deal for the time they invest billing hours.

One reason, no doubt, is that partners simply make more money. They earn multiples of the six-figure salaries associates bring home.

There may be another explanation. Partners are compensated for a wide range of behaviors, like experience, expertise, and the ability to land clients. But associate pay is very closely linked to the number of hours they bill to clients.

Consider another hypothetical: Replace Partner A and B with Associate A and B. Keep the hours the same. Ask them how satisfied they are with their pay.

The associate who billed 1,500 hours would likely be getting poor reviews while the one who billed 2,400 hours would be getting a nice, year-end bonus. Firms typically have billable hours requirements between 1,800 and 2,000 hours, with bonuses often tied to exceeding that threshold.

So, while MLA didn’t survey associates on their compensation satisfaction vis-a-vis their billable hours, it’s hard to imagine that junior lawyers would answer the question the same way as partners. I can’t see many associates who billed 1,500 hours last year saying they are just as satisfied with their compensation as peers who billed 2,400 hours.

More so than with partners, law firms use compensation to incentivize long hours from associates. Some associates might like the deal. But plenty don’t.

One thing won’t change: Partners will always make more money for their time.

If law firms want associates to feel more satisfied with the time they’re investing at their firms, they should look for ways to value them beyond simply billing hours.

That’s one thing they do well for partners.

Worth Your Time

On Kirkland: In an unusual sanction, Kirkland partner James Hurst was barred by a judge from making further arguments in a high-profile trial over the safety of baby formula for preterm babies.

On Gibson Dunn: Manhattan litigator Barry Berke and a team of white collar attorneys from Kramer Levin are joining Gibson Dunn, Tatyana Monnay reports. Berke served as lead counsel for the US House of Representatives in former president Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment.

On Freshfields: As the UK-founded firm looks to continue its momentum in the US, senior partner Georgia Dawson says she’s considering opening new offices including in Boston and Texas.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading and please send me your thoughts, critiques, and tips.