The Billable Hour

The billable hour doesn’t have to be a bogey man haunting #biglaw. It doesn’t have to be the legal profession’s punching bag.

We can change our mindset around it.

Every job, even one you create and build yourself, has requirements, expectations, rules—things you need to do to get the job done, to move ahead.

The #billablehour is one such thing.

Sure, tracking daily tasks in tenth-of-an-hour increments isn’t natural for most of us. It is not intuitive for most of us.

But you can learn it. You can take this requirement and make it a tool.

A tool to see how you spend your time. A tool to see your work, to value your work, to get paid for your work. A tool to advocate for yourself and all you do for your firm, for your clients, and for yourself.

It is like a job that requires you to clock in and out. It is what it is.

If we recognize this, we can remove some of the stigma. If we acknowledge this, we can remove the bulk of the negativity around the billable hour.

Because: even in alternative fee arrangements, you’ll need or want or be required to continue tracking your time.

Because: even if a firm got rid of its base requirement, you’d still need to bill your time for your clients.

Because: like standardized tests, firms will always look for data as an indicator of performance (a key or poor indicator is to be debated, but it’ll persist).

So, take that for what it is and make it a tool. Personalize it. Make it your own. And run with it.

It might be cool to bash the billable hour. It might be the loudest way. But that is not the only (or most productive) way, I promise.

#mindfullyemily #emilylitigates #professionalwomen