If your husband is a lawyer

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amother

Yesterday at 3:12 pm

Do All lawyers work 40+++ hours a week? Does your dh work 40 hour weeks? If yes, how much does he make?

Cheiny

Yesterday at 3:13 pm

amother OP wrote:

Do All lawyers work 40+++ hours a week? Does your dh work 40 hour weeks? If yes, how much does he make?

More hours than 40…

Rosegold22

Yesterday at 3:26 pm

Husband is not a lawyer but I know from his friends that it's possible to work manageable hours as a lawyer - like in corporate, not the law firms. Downside is you don't make a lot of money

chocolate moose

Yesterday at 3:46 pm

lawyers work a lot.

amother

Olive

Yesterday at 3:49 pm

Husband is a lawyer but doesn't work for a law firm. Work in the real estate field
Yes he works full time

amother

Steel ↓

Yesterday at 3:49 pm

My brothers are lawyers and yes they work over 40 hours a week. Dinner is in the office many nights.

They make a lot of money

amother

Daylily

Yesterday at 3:55 pm

Yes 40+. Vacations also. Nights sometimes, catches up an hour or two on Sundays.

1MM + . This is the reality of biglaw

amother

Firethorn ↓

Yesterday at 6:52 pm

I am a lawyer as are many of my family members and obviously many of my friends.

Working hours really depend on what kind of law one practices - the big difference is between private practice and working for a company in house.

In private practice your income and upward mobility is based on billable hours - and it is extremely hard to bill the required number of billable hours if you only work 9 to 5 because no one can bill every single minute they are in the office - at least not legitimately.

Partners have profit participation and so their income isn't based on billable hours strictly but their profit participation is often based on how much they bring in with their clients. And rainmakers will make a huge amount of money versus even a partner who doesn't bring in a lot of clients.

You can make quite a lot as a corporate in house attorney. Depends on your experience as well as the kind of company you work for. Hours are more reasonable in general but again it varies. But in general hours are more like what any business executive would work.

amother

Teal ↓

Yesterday at 6:55 pm

Way more than 40 hours a week. $400k, a few years in.

amother

Trillium

Yesterday at 6:57 pm

40 + hours is a joke , that’s on a fluke lucky week once every few years .
Big law
750k + 10 + year

amother

Mocha

Yesterday at 7:00 pm

40 hours appx since leaves early on Friday. He makes appx 125k a year and thats including the bonus.

amother

↑ Teal

Yesterday at 7:05 pm

OP, lawyers who work a typical 9-5 are generally not the ones making the huge salaries. If your husband is the type who can handle the soul crushing environment of Big Law, he can be making half a million 5-6 years in. And will only go up from there. You will need to sacrifice him to some extent, some wives are able to, some are not. I get to be a SAHM so for me it’s worth the trade off. My husband is actually very involved with the kids, spends most of his free time with them, they don’t feel deprived. But you need to be ok with seeing your husband for an hour in the morning and then not seeing him again till the next day.

amother

Green

Yesterday at 7:27 pm

Have a bunch of family who are govt employed lawyers. Prob make under 200k but great benefits and work from home .. def 9-5 or less

amother

Hawthorn

Yesterday at 8:16 pm

amother OP wrote:

Do All lawyers work 40+++ hours a week? Does your dh work 40 hour weeks? If yes, how much does he make?

Working in a law firm? If so, what size?

Self employed? If so, transactional law or litigation?

Government? In house?

There's a very wide range of possibilities. It's like asking about a doctor. Depends on many factors.

amother

Phlox

Yesterday at 9:06 pm

DH is a lawyer. When we were first married and he worked in Big Law I barely saw him. If it wasn't for Shabbos I would have forgotten what he looked like lol. Sometimes he even had to go into the office on a m"s and he'd take his tefillin with him because he didn't think he'd make it home before shacharis. We would get a respite every so often when a case settled unexpectedly or a major case finished and everyone working on it would get a break for a couple of days before getting assigned to the next one. DH completely missed all the milestones for our first child. He still regrets not being around back then, although they have a fantastic relationship these days.

The best thing that happened for our family was DH getting laid off before he made partner in the big layoffs that happened over a decade ago. So many lawyers were suddenly out of work and no firms were hiring. It was a bit nerve-wracking at the time, but DH eventually found a new job working for the state. Now he has a normal day job with no overtime and no need to bring work home. It comes with great benefits too, but the best part is that he's home every night for a family dinner and never works weekends. He can take time off for YT and simchas and family vacations. He doesn't earn ridiculous amounts of money like he did in Big Law, but we're so much happier as a family now.

amother

Tiffanyblue

Yesterday at 9:20 pm

I have a friend who works about 40 hours a week. It's considered part time. My mom managed to do it by working for the government. In private firms (and also in finance, btw), if you can't do at least a job and a half, you get laid off.

amother

Sienna

Yesterday at 9:27 pm

Husband is in year 3 of big law. Generally gets home well after the kids are in bed. Logs on immediately on m"s to see if he has any new assignments and often works some hours on Sunday as well. We're making it work with some household help

amother

NeonPink

Yesterday at 9:48 pm

DH in big law. 40 hours a week is a funny joke. He works so much more. Pre covid he was gone from early in the morning till way after kids were asleep. Every single day. Walked in the door a few minutes to Shabbos. Everything having to do with kids and with the house was on me. Since Covid things have quieted down some what. He can work from home a couple days a week. But he is really working when working from home. He is not available to pick up kids , do any errands etc. the days he works from home , he puts “dinner” in a half hour slot on his calendar and those evenings we get to eat dinner as a family. At least with kids who are not innyeshiva or married. Again this is post covid. Until then the only time we ate together was Shabbos. And maybe Sunday although he usually works Motzai Shabbos and Sunday too. There is no such thing as “vacation “ even if we can take the time to go away he is always working wherever we are. He has missed much of our kids childhoods . He makes a lot of money. BH we give lots of tzedakah, in addition we cover some of our neighbors tuitions and their simcha expenses - without them knowing . I am grateful to H for the salary and grateful to my hubby for his hard work. But I can’t honestly say it hasn’t taken a toll on our relationship or our family. Nothing is all rosey in any profession , even if there is a lot of money involved.

amother

Natural

Yesterday at 10:34 pm

80 hour weeks are the norm the first few years in big law. Many realize years later that they have provided really well for their family but have lost the relationship with their family in the process. Often it is too late to reclaim. Think carefully before aiming for big law.

amother

Lightblue

Today at 11:50 am

Based off the numbers on this thread
If a lawyer works 60 hours per week for 50 weeks per year
And he makes $600,000
That equals a pay rate of $200 per hour
Which is very nice, but not too far off from well paid private therapists and the like.

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