Comments on: Throwback to 2007 http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2009/10/throwback-to-2007.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:20:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Sarah Waldeck http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2009/10/throwback-to-2007.html/comment-page-1#comment-65947 Sarah Waldeck Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:52:01 +0000 http://www.concurringopinions.com/?p=21346#comment-65947 To be clear, I did not mean to suggest that billable hours are unimportant these days. What strikes me about the show is that I haven't seen any moment that acknowledges the Great Recession and the effect it is having on law firms. Each of the firm-related conversations between Alicia and her colleagues could have been plucked from a show that was written in 2007 or earlier. I still haven't watched last week's episode, however, so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised when I do. Sarah Waldeck To be clear, I did not mean to suggest that billable hours are unimportant these days. What strikes me about the show is that I haven’t seen any moment that acknowledges the Great Recession and the effect it is having on law firms. Each of the firm-related conversations between Alicia and her colleagues could have been plucked from a show that was written in 2007 or earlier. I still haven’t watched last week’s episode, however, so maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised when I do.

Sarah Waldeck

]]> By: Gwynne http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2009/10/throwback-to-2007.html/comment-page-1#comment-65942 Gwynne Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:56:45 +0000 http://www.concurringopinions.com/?p=21346#comment-65942 Apparently you haven't actually been living in the large law firm of today. While there's plenty of stuff being written, mostly by folks outside law firms (including some clients) questioning the future of the billable hour, INSIDE it's business as usual. If anything, the emphasis on producing ever more billable hours is FAR FAR greater today than it was even 5 or 10 years ago, And no, that doesn't mean the firm has "excess" work and is looking for someone to step up and do it. It means that the partners are seeing their profit margin being squeezed, that the firm probably doesn't have enough work and is leaning on folks to go get more, and that the law firm is looking for folks, especially associates (who won't get much of the "profit" pie) to find and produce more PRODUCT aka "billable hours". Personally, I find Alicia's law firm to be very realistic. Apparently you haven’t actually been living in the large law firm of today. While there’s plenty of stuff being written, mostly by folks outside law firms (including some clients) questioning the future of the billable hour, INSIDE it’s business as usual. If anything, the emphasis on producing ever more billable hours is FAR FAR greater today than it was even 5 or 10 years ago, And no, that doesn’t mean the firm has “excess” work and is looking for someone to step up and do it. It means that the partners are seeing their profit margin being squeezed, that the firm probably doesn’t have enough work and is leaning on folks to go get more, and that the law firm is looking for folks, especially associates (who won’t get much of the “profit” pie) to find and produce more PRODUCT aka “billable hours”. Personally, I find Alicia’s law firm to be very realistic.

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