Today’s edition of the New York Times posts an editorial from Steven J. Harper, a former partner at Kirkland & Ellis. Harper describes the overbearing billable hour regime and its resulting law firm culture, referring to it as a “leveraged pyramid” that serves primarily to bring wealth to a firm’s equity partners.
The numbers are well-known to all legal professionals: An associate at a large firm is typically required to bill 1900 hours per year. For this effort, an associate will typically be paid one-fourth of the amount that these hours generate from the clients, if not less. Harper estimates that it takes 50 hours a week to generate an “honest” 40 hours a week to the client. Working evenings and weekends is inevitable, with the resulting “more is better” culture pushing everyone to do ever more. Partners logically strive to maximize individual client billings for their departments. They may try to do much of the work themselves, as their own client billings can make them attractive to other firms.
Clients don’t always get their money’s worth, as overwork fatigue can lead to erosion in work product quality. Even though clients occasionally rebel, alternative fee arrangements remain rare. Billing scandals aren’t unknown, however. A former Arkansas Supreme Court justice went to prison for billing clients for time not worked. A prominent Chicago law partner got into trouble when he couldn’t prove how he billed 6000 hours a year over four consecutive years. In spite of all this, Harper doesn’t expect the entrenched culture of billable hours to go away anytime soon…
Mr. Harper is also the author of The Lawyer Bubble: A Profession in Crisis.
