I recently filled out a self evaluation for a law firm that I began working at.

Anonymous

September 25,2021 at 2:14PM UTC

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I recently filled out a self evaluation for a law firm that I began working at. I was hired mid-fiscal year while pregnant, and I am currently taking parental leave. I do not believe I will make my minimum required billable hours by the end of the fiscal year. One question of the evaluation asked, if I will not meet minimum hours, what will I do to meet them next year or why I think I will meet them next year.

I responded that my time at the firm thus far included substantial tech training, as I was on-boarded remotely, ramping up of my docket from nothing, and ramping down of my docket as I was given less and less work approaching my parental leave because people assigning work reasonably wanted to give it to someone who would be there when it was due. I also mentioned that I had two school age children who had been learning from home without outside care, and that this will not be an issued next year.

I told my husband that this was my response and he had an immediate reaction that mentioning my kids was bad or made me look bad, but he could not put his finger on why. I was trying to answer the prompt as accurately as possible; there were several temporary or one-off things happening during the spring that made it hard to bill as many hours as I otherwise could, none of which would be issues upon my return or next year. Any thoughts?

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Deborah MitchellSeptember 25,2021 at 2:42PM UTC
So are your kids being home a cause of you not meeting your goal? If not then having them out of the house next year should not make a difference.
AnonymousSeptember 25,2021 at 4:40PM UTC
Them being at home was a significant limit to the time I could devote to billing hours, yes.
Deborah MitchellSeptember 26,2021 at 5:11AM UTC
So you were spending a significant amount of your work hours caring for your kids?
If I was your employer and we didn't have an agreement around that (and an agreement that you wouldn't reach your billable hours) I would be concerned
AnonymousSeptember 26,2021 at 10:14AM UTC
I see how it comes off that way. Outside of the o boarding training and the few weeks I was running out of work as my leave approached, I was billing more than enough hours to reach the minimum. I just couldn’t do more than that to make up for the training time and dwindling assignments as my leave approached with kids at home. With everyone working from home and in person schools closed in our area, it felt like an obvious change that would affect how anyone with kids was able to do extra work.
Deborah MitchellSeptember 26,2021 at 2:42PM UTC
I get that, I saying that unless I had already discussed that in depth with my supervisor I likely would not have brought up the kids.
I understand where your husband is coming from.
Ericka GinterSeptember 25,2021 at 4:10PM UTC
I could use a lawyer pro Bono. It a multimillion dollar lawsuit or litigation. Not sure how that works. I’d be your only client. Will that help meet your billable hours. I’d like to sue 3 law firms a case manager the mormon church. Two bishops and a property management company. ? seriously. I know I have a case/s
AnonymousSeptember 25,2021 at 4:44PM UTC
They asked why I thought I would meet them next year. That seemed like one reason it would be much easier to bill my hours. I did not think I was providing excuses, they asked me why I did not meet the hours. They also asked what I would do differently or what would be different to meet the goals. This worries me that my answer looks like making excuses.
AnonymousSeptember 25,2021 at 6:16PM UTC
>Multi-million dollar, but a pro bono lawyer?
I think she may be confusing pro bono with contingency. Not that it isn't a ridiculous post either way.
Deborah MitchellSeptember 26,2021 at 2:41PM UTC
The /s at the end of the post means she was trying to be sarcastic
Emmy BemmySeptember 27,2021 at 9:13PM UTC
I would not mention your kids, even if it were true. The firm is expecting a certain amount of work from you for the compensation they give. If you are not meeting that due to family obligations, then you are not upholding your end of the agreement. Pointing this out to them is not a good idea.
I feel like the tech training/inefficiencies of remote on-boarding are hopefully sufficient to explain how next year will be different (in addition to you having more experience, a higher runrate than starting from 0, etc)