Career Watch: J

Ah, yes, it's the first of the month which means my monthly hours are due. And, like always, they suck.

For the lay people, lawyers typically bill their clients for their time via the firm. So, every month, I report how much time I spent working on each client. My goal is to bill 5 hours per day. I averaged 3 this month. The thing is, in ANY other firm, I would have to bill closer to 8 per day.

The problem, to me, is that I am not busy enough. My boss will retort that I still have stuff to do. Which is true. But it's the never-ending loose-ends type of stuff. Stuff that if all the planets aligned and everyone involved cooperated, would take me 10 minutes to finish.

A more ambitious sort would no doubt look into acquiring new clients of her own. I have two major problems with this: 1. I am not the ambitious sort. No, I am, it's just that I have never been a good salesperson and HATE having to sell myself and 2. there's not really much incentive unless I want to be partner someday. New clients bring in new money to the firm, but not to me directly. So, I would make the FIRM more money which is good and all, but... I have hobbies to keep up with.

Which brings me to the blog. Some (like my boss, if he knew) would argue I spend too much time on email, the internet and this blog which is distracting me from work. I believe that, as part of the MTV generation, I NEED the distraction. I can't remember the last time I felt productive and was only focused on one thing. Nope. If I am productive, I perform several tasks at once. That way, it feels like I am not tied to one project (opression!) and my short attention span is used to its potential.

So. Now I am trying to figure out what to do. I will have The Talk with my boss (trying to explain I need more work--my paltry hours this month do not reflect a lack of willingness to work on my part!), but I think I need to be proactive in solving this problem. Perhaps I should try to write a novel? Find a part-time job I can do from work and potentially bill through work? Or, find a new job/career altogether?

I'll keep you posted.