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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Romiras" data-source="post: 89465" data-attributes="member: 1993">Working from home has the potential to increase working hours (or at the very least, increase 'bad' working hours), but that's very person-to-person/team dependent. You may be put with a supervisor that enjoys loading their work into the evenings and expects the same of you. You may be in a team that just expects you to be available (as a result of WFH) after 'X' timing. The increased efficiencies also may lead management to assume that WFH = increased productivity and therefore there may be an expectation for you to work 'more' since you don't have commute time. But I would say the primary reason is due to the amount of private capital in the market. This has meant that the private equity industry and general M&A activity are booming. Deal timelines are being compressed in the hunt for good opportunities (competition is fierce). You will often see pre-empting of the bidding process, which means that you will work in even shorter timelines pre-COVID19. This affects the finance and capital markets practice as well. Especially things related to high yield and leveraged finance (for obvious reasons). It'll impact adjacent support departments like Tax and Financial Regulation (their hours aren't too great as well).US and MC firms, across the board, are dealing with the issues of burnout, people leaving law (or to another competitor) and increased deal flows, which all impacts hours. However, I'd say that MC firms (except for certain departments in certain firms) across the board are generally more "sustainable" hour wise - but only when they've sorted the exodus of people leaving the firm in key transactional and support practices. That said, relative sustainability to a US firm isn't a good metric.I think when you look at LegalCheek's survey, you may overblow how 'bad' the hours are. Going by the numbers supposed by K&E's start and end times, you'd assume everyone at K&E is working around 3,000 billable hours a year. That's just not the case. I would love to say the number are much 'better', but according to my friends in K&E PE, they still seem pretty bad. Some are averaging 2,500 hours (or around there), but definitely not 3,000 billable hours. Again, there are also types of people who perhaps go too far with saying yes to every deal request and have a hard time balancing their work and social life. The same mentality that Jessica raised above, about how some people are prestige-focused and money-focused, are the very same people who have difficulties "disappointing" supervisors by saying no to work requests. Law is a marathon, and there's no point going into a US firm (or any firm rather) with the strategy of working till you burnout in 2-3 years. You're not making much money if you do that. Most of the money you will make in your life will be in the last 10 years of your career. That number could represent almost 80% of your entire life earnings. These hours also don't extend to other departments like Funds, Tax and Reg where you see a big range (1900 - 2500). They're still bad, but you can have a viable career around the 2,000 mark.With that said, it was only after I actually started working that I realised that 40 hours a week isn't "easy". It doesn't feel fun. I was surrounded by friends in finance, consulting and law who threw numbers out like 80 to 100 hour work weeks, talking about how that's when things get really "tough", and anything below that is easy to handle. My experience with 80 to 100 hour work weeks sucked, and I can categorically say that if I had to do that for more than 1 month, I would quit on the spot. Basically, it's important to get a realistic understanding of what are "bad" hours for you and your context. It's hard to compare with others. Some people can easily handle an 80 hour work week, whilst others prefer less.You'll probably get beasted more in transactional seats. More so if you're in a US firm that has many private equity clients. However, you can strike a balance (not everyone is a workaholic psychopath). But you can also choose a firm that provides an inherently better balance too - and that doesn't make you a lesser lawyer. If anything, it may make you a better friend, son or daughter, etc.</blockquote>

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