<p>I assume this refers to the time an attorney spends working for a specific client on a specific case - billable to said client. Is this correct?</p>
<p>Also, how many hours are attorneys expected to bill in a given week/month?</p>
<p>Are attorneys at, for example, BIGLAW assigned cases based on their expertise? Or, do they have their pick of cases?</p>
<p>Lastly, what’s a retainer?</p>
<p>At many law firms, attorneys bill $x (fill in a number) per hour for all time spent on a client matter and often it is actually recorded at increments of .1 hours, such as for a short phone call. Expectations vary but at many large law firms expectations are fairly high, e.g., many have above 2200 billed hours a year at least for younger attorneys and that time does not count any time not spent on the client matters, e.g., it does not count your lunch hour, any breaks, dealing with any internal firm matters, etc.</p>
<p>Young attorneys out of law school at big firms are usually assigned to matters based on need and availability. “General” areas are often considered, e.g., if you have joined the litigation department, you probably won’t be working on things the corporate department usually does but that is not a hard and fast rule. As attorneys gain more experience, they can become the go-to person for things in which they have the most experience. You may eventually get on a case you choose simply because you’re available or have the experience.</p>
<p>A retainer in its simplest form is an amount paid by the client up front before the attorney does a lot work on a matter. The amount may simply be the set amount for a matter (when not using hourly billing). When using hourly billing, the amount may be used to charge hours to and pay the attorney or held to do so in the event the client fails to pay regular bills.</p>