Best Hours 40: Shortest Hours Worked

See also the Longest 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	Carter Ledyard & Milburn	New York	15	73%	50
2	Chapman and Cutler	Chicago	17	94%	50.5
2	Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman	New York	180	10%	50.6
4	Allen Matkins Leck Gamble & Mallory	Los Angeles	40	25%	50.8
5	Perkins Coie	Seattle	91	22%	51.1
6	Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads	Philadelphia	20	90%	51.9
7	Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle	New York	19	89%	52
7	Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto	New York	23	52%	52
7	Smith, Gambrell & Russell	Atlanta	15	87%	52
7	Andrews Kurth	Houston	63	19%	52.1
7	Crowell & Moring	Washington, D.C.	46	46%	52.1
7	Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold	San Francisco	50	30%	52.1
13	Holland & Hart	Denver	44	27%	52.3
13	Porter Wright Morris & Arthur	Columbus	38	58%	52.4
15	Baker & Daniels	Indianapolis	38	37%	52.5
15	McKenna Long & Aldridge	National	46	72%	52.5
15	Preston Gates & Ellis	Seattle	47	30%	52.5
15	Day, Berry & Howard	Hartford	41	37%	52.6
19	Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel	New York	55	29%	52.7
20	Howrey	Washington, D.C.	102	61%	52.9
20	Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon	Chicago	19	89%	52.9
20	Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn	Detroit	20	55%	53
20	Venable	Washington, D.C.	58	36%	53
24	Young Conaway	Wilmington	16	75%	53
25	Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham	Pittsburgh	142	62%	53.1
25	Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice	Winston-Salem	48	48%	53.1
25	Thompson Coburn	St. Louis	39	54%	53.2
25	Goulston & Storrs	Boston	16	81%	53.3
29	Loeb & Loeb	Los Angeles	25	68%	53.4
29	Thompson Hine	Cleveland	57	35%	53.4
29	Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen	Philadelphia	35	94%	53.4
29	Chadbourne & Parke	New York	36	36%	53.5
29	Faegre & Benson	Minneapolis	64	45%	53.5
29	Harter, Secrest & Emery	Rochester, New York	16	94%	53.5
29	Heller Ehrman	San Francisco	113	53%	53.5
29	Strasburger & Price	Dallas	22	45%	53.5
37	Davis Wright Tremaine	Seattle	54	28%	53.6
37	Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi	Minneapolis	57	37%	53.6
37	Baker Botts	Houston	117	23%	53.7
37	Sutherland Asbill & Brennan	Washington, D.C.	62	42%	53.7