Although most lawyers have a regular 40-hour week, a significant percentage of them work more frequently. The average weekly work hours for various types of lawyers are: Lawyers working for large firms: 66 hours per week. Lawyers working for small and medium-sized firms: 42-54 hours per week.
The Goal is Between 1,700 and 2,300 Hours Most law firms set a yearly billable hour target for their associates. Using an attorney billable hours chart can help in systematically documenting and managing these targets. This number is usually between 1,700 to 2,300 hours which is the average billable hour requirement.
1200 hours a year is healthy and should be profitable by a good margin. Some months have more work and others don't. Any more hours and you risk attorneys churning hours on files which obviously isn't a good for the attorney-client relationship.
Outside of a few exceptions, the general rule in the U.S. is that only licensed attorneys can own law firms.
In Philadelphia, Orange County, CA, San Diego, and the San Jose area, most offices required either 1,900 or 1,950 hours; in Miami, most firms required either 1,900 or 2,000 hours.
Billable tasks contribute to the completion of projects and are typically associated with revenue generation for a professional service agency. Non-billable hours don't directly progress a project and aren't billed to the client.
Non-billable expenses refer to expenses that won't be charged directly to clients over the course of completing a project. Common examples of non-billable expenses can include office supplies, rent, utilities, software subscriptions, and salaries for employees who are not directly involved in billable work.
As we mentioned, many law firms require their lawyers to work between 1,700 and 2,300 billable hours per year, depending on their situation. This means working between 142 and 192 hours per month, or between seven and ten billable hours per day.
Some examples of non-billable work hours are things such as team meetings, staff development/training, or networking and attending conferences. These are items which would raise the eyebrows of any client when appearing in their invoice, as they are not specifically for that client.
Billable work hours correspond to the hours you spend on a client's project for which you can provide an invoice. Non-billable hours typically correspond to time spent on personal tasks and internal administrative tasks unrelated to clients.