Diminishing Billable Hours?

The National Law Journal recently reported that certain law firms are cutting billable hour requirements.  For example, Strasburger & Price in Dallas is apparently cutting the billable hour requirement for its first-year lawyers from 1,920 hours to 1,600 hours to allow more time for training and pro bono work.

According to the National Law Journal, a law student group from top-tier schools around the U.S. requested earlier this year that large law firms reduce billable hour requirements and allow for a more balanced lifestyle, even if associate compensation needed to be reduced.

In August of 2007, Ford & Harrison abolished its billable hour requirement for first-year attorneys.  Chapman and Cutler apparently allows associates to work fewer hours in exchange for lawyer pay, while Lando & Anastasi  (based in Boston) apparently requires only 1,600 billable hours per year.

While such measures by law firms are a positive first step, the focus seems to be on first-year associates, and not on attorneys across the board.  Law firms need to realize that it is not only new lawyers who need more balance in their lives.