Long Hours 40: Longest Hours Worked

See also the Best Hours 40 or 2006 Shortest Hour Law Firms.

This is a ranking of the shortest hours worked (not billed) by midlevel associates. Associates at the #1 firm, Carter Ledyard & Milburn, averaged 50 hours worked (39.3 billed) per week. Associates working the longest are at, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and worked on average 69.1 (and billed 59.6) hours per week.

There are 168 total hours in a week. Sleeping 8 hours a night, leaves you with 112 waking hours. Working 69.1 hours amounts to 61.7% of waking hours. (50 hours would be 44.6%.)

Ratings principally based on over 6,500 associate surveys (3rd-5th years). See The American Lawyer's 2006 Midlevel Associates Survey.

Rank	Law Firm	Main Office	Total Midlevels	Response Rate	Hours Worked
1	Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz	New York	31	45%	69.1
2	Cravath, Swaine & Moore	New York	105	21%	65.7
3	Sullivan & Cromwell	New York	171	83%	65
4	Davis Polk & Wardwell	New York	167	21%	62.7
5	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett	New York	213	32%	61.4
6	Cahill Gordon & Reindel	New York	61	44%	60.8
7	Kirkland & Ellis	Chicago	300	47%	59.9
7	Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal	Chicago	78	23%	59.9
7	Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison	New York	121	24%	59.8
10	Linklaters	International	32	50%	59.7
10	Lowenstein Sandler	Roseland, NJ	39	31%	59.6
12	Foley Hoag	Boston	50	34%	58.9
13	Clifford Chance	International	75	36%	58.7
14	Proskauer Rose	New York	133	36%	58.6
14	Cozen O'Connor	Philadelphia	27	63%	58.5
14	Dewey Ballantine	New York	78	49%	58.5
17	LeClair Ryan	Richmond	22	50%	58.5
18	Schulte Roth & Zabel	New York	89	28%	58.4
18	Thacher Proffitt & Wood	New York	57	30%	58.4
18	Weil, Gotshal & Manges	New York	241	22%	58.4
18	Hughes Hubbard & Reed	New York	54	50%	58.3
18	Manatt, Phelps & Phillips	Los Angeles	31	55%	58.3
18	Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw	National	181	42%	58.3
18	Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft	New York	113	38%	58.2
18	Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton	New York	184	19%	58.2
18	Jenner & Block	Chicago	80	25%	58.2
18	Latham & Watkins	National	463	32%	58.2
28	Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati	Palo Alto	142	36%	58
29	Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels	Boston	26	46%	57.9
29	Debevoise & Plimpton	New York	140	20%	57.9
29	Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson	New York	137	41%	57.9
29	King & Spalding	Atlanta	146	50%	57.9
29	Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz	Chicago	31	42%	57.9
29	Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge	Providence	76	17%	57.8
29	McDermott, Will & Emery	National	178	32%	57.8
36	Bell, Boyd & Lloyd	Chicago	28	68%	57.7
36	Morgan, Lewis & Bockius	National	268	47%	57.6
38	Alston & Bird	Atlanta	158	24%	57.5
38	DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary	National	232	53%	57.5
38	Shearman & Sterling	New York	162	26%	57.5
38	Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky	Washington, D.C.	57	49%	57.4
38	Greenberg Traurig, P.A.	National	166	41%	57.4
38	Kenyon & Kenyon	New York	43	30%	57.4
38	Winston & Strawn	Chicago	141	27%	57.4