How to Manage Your Workload as a New Law Firm Associate

One aspect of law firm life that many junior associates find challenging is managing their workload. To be fair, most associates’ workloads are dictated primarily by the volume of the firm’s work. When the firm is busy, associates will be busy. Star associates tend to be busier than other associates, moreover. It comes with the territory. The most successful associates in a law firm must be especially careful not to overload themselves to the point that their work quality suffers, however.

Know How Your Firm Defines “Busy”

Billable and Nonbillable Targets

Your firm defines “busy” initially in terms of its annual billable and nonbillable hours targets. In some firms, these targets are called “requirements,” but whatever your firm calls them, you should meet or exceed them. Most firms have a target for billable hours and another for nonbillable but valuable time, such as training time, pro bono work, service on firm committees, and client development tasks such as writing articles, assisting with conference presentations, etc. Some firms have a target for billable hours and total hours, including nonbillable time, so you can exceed the whole target with billable hours if you have them.

Engagement in Your Firm’s Work

Your firm also defines “busy” in terms of the level of your engagement in the firm’s work. The volume of work in most law firms is somewhat variable, but when the firm is busy, it will expect you to pull your weight and more. Law practice is not a 40-hour-per-week profession. If the firm is very busy and you come in after 9:00 a.m. and leave at 5:00 p.m., it will be noticed. You must arrange your personal life so that when the firm needs you to be working, you can show up and focus. Late nights and weekends might be required for you to keep up with the pace. It’s part of law firm life.

Workload Peaks and Valleys

Your firm will probably have peaks and valleys in its workload, so there will be times when you will not need to work long hours. However, because of these peaks and valleys, you must take advantage of the busy times to advance toward your firm’s hours targets. If extra billable hours are available early in the year, work them. The volume of work might decline as you approach the finish line. Especially if your firm’s measuring year ends on December 31, you cannot count on making up for lost time during the last two weeks of the year. Most lawyers and most clients will be off celebrating the holidays. If you are short on hours at the beginning of December, you will likely be shorter on hours at the end of December.

Monitoring Your Progress During the Year

You must keep track of your progress toward your firm’s hours targets throughout the year. Most firms make this information easily accessible, but if you are unclear about where to find it, ask. If you monitor your progress during the year and plan your work accordingly, you should be OK. If you find yourself falling short along the way, that’s the time to fix it. Let partners with whom you have worked well know that you have availability. Also, let your office managing partner, your team leader, and your mentor know. Don’t be afraid to say that your workload is running low. A star associate with availability is music to the ears of every law firm partner. Speak up, and you will soon have an abundance of work again.

Understanding Your Deadlines

A common mistake of new lawyers is misunderstanding deadlines. A brief or discovery responses might be due on Friday, but you cannot wait until Thursday night to produce a draft. This is because the partner must review the draft, and then the client will likely need to review it as well before it is filed or served. All of this cannot occur in a couple of hours. You must know, therefore, how long the partner will need to review the document and how long the client representative will need. You should add an extra day for contingencies, then combine the client review time and the partner review time, plus the extra day—this will be your deadline for producing a draft of the document.

You must not think of the due date for a document as being the same thing as your deadline. Your deadline might be several days or a week before the due date. Plan accordingly. If you are unclear on your deadline for any assignment, simply ask the partner, “When do you want this back from me?”

Keep Your Project Pipeline Full

Star associates remain busy despite the ebbs and flows of the firm’s workload. They manage to do so by always keeping their pipeline full. Many times, I have received an email from within the firm announcing that one associate or another has “settled all of her cases” and has time available. Those associates are rarely star associates because they do not know how to manage their workload.

Many associates fall prey to thinking that because they are slammed this week, they are too busy to take on more assignments. That is short-sighted and incorrect thinking. If I come to you to ask you to work on a new lawsuit with me, you might think you cannot possibly take on any more work at the moment, but that’s not what I am asking. I am offering you a stream of work that will last six months to two years or more. Nothing has to be done today. Over the next week, I would like for you to take time to read the complaint and have a discussion with me about what we will submit as our initial responsive pleading, but that’s all of your time I will need this week.

You must always be looking at your pipeline beyond this week. What does it look like for the next month? The next three months? The next six months? You should keep track of your pipeline in writing so you can keep it full. If it’s only in your head, it will always seem overwhelming. Some associates use a whiteboard in their office to keep track of their work assignments and deadlines; others keep track electronically. Do whatever works for you, but chart out your key deadlines so you can see them in front of you. Look for periods when you will not be so busy, and look for opportunities to fill that time. It will not work out perfectly.

Many things in law practice happen quickly and without warning, so you may frequently have to juggle priorities. You will be looking ahead, however, not just at your current workload, and that should allow you to keep your pipeline full so you will remain consistently busy.