Should Lawyers Have a Billable Hour Maximum?
Pilots can’t fly more than 9 hours in a day. They have to get at least 10 hours of rest between flights. And within those 10 hours, they must have a chance to get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
These are actual rules. Not guidelines. Not industry practice. Not a specific airline’s policy.
Nope. There are federal regulations - 14 CFR 91.1059 if you’re interested - that say how long pilots can fly.
There limitations and nuances. These rules apply to commercial pilots. The 9-hour maximum can sometimes be an 8-hour maximum depending on when the flight took off.
Can we do something similar for lawyers? Should we?
First off, why would we want to? Why do lawyers’ hours need to be capped?
The legal profession if full of struggles. Most lawyers hate their jobs. A lot are stressed and overwhelmed. Many are depressed. Too many turn to substance abuse. A few too many turn to suicide.
There are various efforts to address these problems. Many state bar associations provide resources for struggling lawyers. Programs like Lawyers Helping Lawyers can connect struggling lawyers with mentors and buddies. CLE courses cover substance abuse. Social media has helped to connect struggling lawyers and promote practices like meditation and concepts like empathy. Certain lawyers like Dan Lukasic have gone public with their experiences to help struggling lawyers realize that they are not alone. Some law schools have started meditation courses to help aspiring lawyers proactively address potential issues.
I want to propose something different. When I heard about pilots’ flight time limitations, I wondered if it would work for lawyers.
First things first:
One issue that immediately comes up is that lawyers may be less fungible than pilots. If a pilot has exceeded the flight time limit, the airline can just get another pilot. But you can’t as easily swap out a lawyer in the middle of a case or deal. The client may have wanted that specific lawyer. And switching may delay things, which is one reason why ethical rules require court notice and approval. So, we’d need a way to prevent delays and protect clients.
We’d also need to make sure that you couldn’t skirt the rules. Pilots and airlines keep detailed logs of flight times. And flight schedulers are prohibited from scheduling a pilot beyond the limitations. It is harder for lawyers. If, for example, you tell a firm that lawyers can’t bill more than 2300 hours per year, that firm is going to try to figure out how to charge clients for that lawyers work. If that lawyer and firm are in demand, you can’t just knee-cap their ability to earn money. So they’ll probably try to find a way to continue to work that lawyer without recording the effort as billable time. (Maybe that will help speed the death of the billable hour?)
What if we said that a lawyer’s compensation cannot be based on the number of hours billed in a year? We make billable time into a protected employment class of sorts. Unfortunately, time pressures aren’t the only ones that cause problems in the profession. Other causes include business development and the stress of practice itself.
Pilots can’t fly more than 9 hours in a day. They have to get at least 10 hours of rest between flights. And within those 10 hours, they must have a chance to get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
These are actual rules. Not guidelines. Not industry practice. Not a specific airline’s policy.
Nope. There are federal regulations - 14 CFR 91.1059 if you’re interested - that say how long pilots can fly.
There limitations and nuances. These rules apply to commercial pilots. The 9-hour maximum can sometimes be an 8-hour maximum depending on when the flight took off.
Can we do something similar for lawyers? Should we?
First off, why would we want to? Why do lawyers’ hours need to be capped?
The legal profession if full of struggles. Most lawyers hate their jobs. A lot are stressed and overwhelmed. Many are depressed. Too many turn to substance abuse. A few too many turn to suicide.
There are various efforts to address these problems. Many state bar associations provide resources for struggling lawyers. Programs like Lawyers Helping Lawyers can connect struggling lawyers with mentors and buddies. CLE courses cover substance abuse. Social media has helped to connect struggling lawyers and promote practices like meditation and concepts like empathy. Certain lawyers like Dan Lukasic have gone public with their experiences to help struggling lawyers realize that they are not alone. Some law schools have started meditation courses to help aspiring lawyers proactively address potential issues.
I want to propose something different. When I heard about pilots’ flight time limitations, I wondered if it would work for lawyers.
First things first:
- This is a thought experiment. I don’t know if this could be done or should be done. But I thought about it so I wanted to write about it.
- I understand the fundamental reason why pilots have flight time limitations. I acknowledge that piloting a plane is inherently more dangerous than practicing law.
- I’ve found that a good way to explore a topic is to pretend that somebody else came up with an idea and is asking – no, forcing – you to implement it. Pretend your boss says, “If I made you do this, what would you do?” So that’s where I’m starting.
One issue that immediately comes up is that lawyers may be less fungible than pilots. If a pilot has exceeded the flight time limit, the airline can just get another pilot. But you can’t as easily swap out a lawyer in the middle of a case or deal. The client may have wanted that specific lawyer. And switching may delay things, which is one reason why ethical rules require court notice and approval. So, we’d need a way to prevent delays and protect clients.
We’d also need to make sure that you couldn’t skirt the rules. Pilots and airlines keep detailed logs of flight times. And flight schedulers are prohibited from scheduling a pilot beyond the limitations. It is harder for lawyers. If, for example, you tell a firm that lawyers can’t bill more than 2300 hours per year, that firm is going to try to figure out how to charge clients for that lawyers work. If that lawyer and firm are in demand, you can’t just knee-cap their ability to earn money. So they’ll probably try to find a way to continue to work that lawyer without recording the effort as billable time. (Maybe that will help speed the death of the billable hour?)
What if we said that a lawyer’s compensation cannot be based on the number of hours billed in a year? We make billable time into a protected employment class of sorts. Unfortunately, time pressures aren’t the only ones that cause problems in the profession. Other causes include business development and the stress of practice itself.