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[klaviernista]

I'll cut to the chase.  I am looking for a Boston area IP firm that has a reasonable billable goal for a prosecution specialist.  I have over just over 7 years of experience in this area, and am utterly sick of pounding out 2000+ billables each year.  I would gladly trade a 30% reduction in salary for a 30% reduction in billable hours.  The increase in free time is mostly what I am looking for, given that my wife and I are expecting our first child early next year.

That said, can anyone recommend a Boston area firm that has a more realistic billable goal or is more focused on work life balance?  I am aware of Lowrie Lando, and plan to get in contact with them at some point.

Also, my background is multidisciplinary.  I have drafted applications in the mechanical, chemical, and materials science areas, but my real area of specialty is inventions that are at the interface between mechanical/chemical (i.e., vapor deposition and semiconductor manufacturing) or materials science and chemical (alloys, medical devices, etc.).

Thanks in advance.

[Starless127]

I've talked to a few recruiting attorneys from around the Boston area.  It appears that most boutiques require 1800/yr, pro bono typically counts toward your goal (for whatever that's worth) and some firms are good about working from home a couple days/week. 

I'd recommend checking out firms like Wolf-Greenfield, Lowrie, etc.

Check this website: http://law.lclark.edu/org/ipso/ipfirmlist.html#Massachusetts

Good luck

[LF]

Don't forget the overhead. If you work 30% less, the percentage of overhead (Insurance, Benefits, Office Space) grows, so you may have to take a couple of other percentage points.

LF

[patentologist]

Klav, what did you end up deciding to do? Have you heard abt Burns Levinson. Anything to say about them?

[klaviernista]

Klav, what did you end up deciding to do? Have you heard abt Burns Levinson. Anything to say about them?

Wow, this is calling up an old thread!  My first on this board, if I recall correctly.

Ultimately, I decided to leave my large law firm (~2 years ago, now) and go in house with a company in New Hampshire.  The in-house lifestyle has been simply amazing.  In at 8 and out at 5, 5 days a week, with 5+ weeks of vacation each year.  Unfortunately, it has also proven to be short lived.  Indeed, I recently decided to leave my in-house gig to return to a law firm, albeit a small firm with a much better billable structure than the big firm I left.  The new firm wants 1600 billed hours per year, which I expect will translate to 1760-1920 "working" hours, plus client development time (assumes 80-90% efficiency, which is reasonable for me).

When I was still looking in Boston, the firm with the best work life balance I saw was Lowrie Lando.  But they have not hired a pure chemical attorney in quite a long time.

As to Burns Levinson, I can't comment.  I don't know anything about them.

Klav

[currentexaminer]

Is the pay difference between in-house and 1600 billable firm substantial?

[klaviernista]

Is the pay difference between in-house and 1600 billable firm substantial?

First things first, note that I said 1600 billed hours, not billable.  Assuming 80-90% efficiency (again, reasonable for me), and we are really talking about 1760-1920 billable hours.  But any way you slice it, that is reasonable.  At my old firm, I was working anywhere from 2600-2800 hours per year.

Compensation is roughly "the same," in my opinion, though it comes in different forms.  I've tried to break it down below.  Of course, this only applies in my limited situation.  The nature of in-house jobs varies wildly.  DogDay, for example, has a much more demanding in house gig than I do.  I also interviewed for another in-house gig recently with a fortune 100 company, and the salary they offered was 75% higher than what I make now.  Too bad I had no interest in commuting 2 hours each way.

In House compensation

Base Salary = $X (somewhere in the 6 figures)
Bonus potential: none
relative stability of position/company:  almost none (highly volatile, such is the nature of a startup)
Average workday:  8AM-5PM, 30 minute lunch
Weekend work:  almost never
Vacation:  25 PTO days plus 12 holidays (10 set, 2 floater), guaranteed
Travel:  occassional
Reimbursed professional expenses (licenses, etc): no
Support at work (docket system, paralegal, etc.):  none

Small law firm compensation (1600 billed)
Base Salary: $X + 20%
Bonus potential: 50% of billed hours over 1600
relative stability of position/company:  very stable.  Firm has a lot of work and has been around for 10+ years. Many large clients.
Average workday:  7AM-5PM, lunch at desk
Weekend work:  One saturday every month or two.  Depends on client workload
Vacation:  No set vacation.  take time off when you can.  Typical of a law firm.  Partners and associates usually take 2.5-3.5 weeks per year.
Travel:  None
Reimbursed professional expenses (licenses, etc): All, including all CLE courses.
Support at work (docket system, paralegal, etc.):  Dedicated secretary, sophisticated computer system, etc.
Other:  Can work from home 1-2 days per week. Firm is extremely family friendly (e.g., several partners and associates have a life outside of work).  Very good potential for upward mobility (partnership)

[smgsmc]

Hi klav,

In your various settings, what were your approximate non-billable hours?  I'm talking mainly overhead such as filling out time sheets, docket reviews, and group meetings.  This has become a hot topic at my firm.  Our internal processes are what some of us consider to be very inefficient, but the partners are extremely resistant to change.

Thanks.

[klaviernista]

Smg:

Since I have only worked at one law firm, I can only speak to that particular situation.  And even then, it depends.  Why?  Because non-billable hours come in different flavors.

On the one hand, there was type 1 non-billable time, which amounted to "stuff" an attorney had to do for a client, but ultimately was not billable.  This would include opening new matters, running conflict checks, reviewing invoices, etc.  Oddly, the amount of that non-billable "stuff" seemed to increase as I rose in the ranks, because as I gained experience, I also started to bring in new clients and new matters from existing clients.  In my last year at my old firm, I probably spent 75 hours on type 1 non-billables.

Next, there was type 2 non-billable hours, which amounted to "crap" I had to do to maintain my standing in the firm.  E.g., attending firm functions (bulk), running internal CLE's, performing on-campus interviews (back when firms were hiring), mentoring junior associates, etc.  My old firm required a minimum of 200 of these type of hours.  I always hit that minimum, but I did so mainly through type 3 non-billable hours (discussed below), which I felt were far more useful than the "grip and greet" stuff falling under type 2.

Type 3 non-billable hours were not required by my old firm, but would count towards the type-2 requirement, AND a portion of an associates billable goal.  These hours were for non-billable pro-bono work.  Although I worked in a firm full of patent lawyers, we had a strong pro bono civil practice as well.  The firm used that practice as a "training ground" for young lawyers, particularly young litigators.  The prgram took cases ranging from veterans appeals, to domestic disputes, to pure criminal trial work.  I participated heavily in this program in 2 of the 5 years I was at my old firm.  In that time, I racked up roughly 700 hours of non-billable pro bono time for one case.  That case involved an appeal from the Merit Systems Protection Board to the CAFC re: a matter of civil service retirement law.  It sounds boring.  But as a third year associate, I got to be an important part of a significant litigation, draft an appellate brief from scratch, and sit third chair on the appellant's bench during oral arguments at the CAFC.  It still pisses me off to this day that despite all our hard work, and despite the fact that we were technically right, the CAFC denied our client's appeal out for what amounts to nothing nothing more than judicial efficiency.

But to answer your question directly, I typically racked up between 250-350 hours of non-billable time each year, with 2/3 of that going towards activities that I would really rather not have to do.

To break it down further, a typical year wold look like:

250-350 non-billables
2200 billables
2000 billed (90% realization rate)

At the firm I am joining in May, the only goal I have to hit is the 1600 billed requirement.  Anything else is gravy.  Though if I want to make partner, I will have to spend a good bit of time doing client development, which is non-billable but necessary in any service oriented business.