Last updated: 23 November 2025
Many lawyers in private practice experience burnout because they are not accurately recording the hours they work on client matters.
Under reporting billable hours — including under-releasing time spent on research, drafting, meetings, and other legal tasks — can quietly accelerate exhaustion, reduce realization rates, and distort perceptions of productivity.
This article explores why lawyers may hesitate to release all their work hours, how this contributes to burnout, and why accurate time tracking can support both fairness and long-term career sustainability.
Why lawyers under-release billable hours
Lawyer in burnout? Not releasing all your hours may be part of the problem
I’ve worked with a number of young associates in private law firms who reach out because they are in burnout. When we talk about their work habits in detail, I often ask a simple question: are you releasing your time accurately?
After some reflection, many realize they are not — and that this under-reporting is contributing to their exhaustion.
This pattern shows up most often in private firms where billable targets, realization rates, and partner review all shape how associates record their time.
Stories shared here are amalgamations of multiple individuals to protect privacy.
Why under-billing is so common among junior associates
Releasing all your hours is a skill most lawyers have to learn over time. Early in a legal career, many associates hold themselves to very high standards and feel they should only release hours they consider fully productive.
This sounds reasonable, even admirable. But it creates a problem.
When you are learning new areas of law, drafting unfamiliar documents, or figuring out how a file works, productivity is naturally uneven. A steep learning curve is part of the job. If you only bill for the moments you judge as “efficient,” you may end up working far more hours than you record.
Productivity judgments fuel burnout
When I ask associates how many hours they are physically in the office versus how many hours they release, there is often a noticeable gap.
I then ask what they were doing during the unbilled time. They are not scrolling the internet or disengaged. They are working on files — reading, editing, outlining, thinking — but they don’t believe that work was productive enough to count.
This belief is central to the problem.
When exhaustion sets in, concentration suffers. When concentration suffers, work feels less efficient. When work feels inefficient, associates release less time — even though they are working just as long, or longer.
This creates a cycle that accelerates burnout.
Partners expect learning curves — that’s why realization rates exist
Many associates worry that releasing learning time is inappropriate or will reflect poorly on them. In reality, partners expect learning curves.
This is precisely why realization rates exist. Partners review invoices and adjust what is passed on to the client. If hours are excessive, they are reduced at that stage.
Releasing your time accurately gives partners the information they need to make those adjustments — under-releasing deprives them of that visibility.
If your realization rate is solid and no partner has raised concerns, billing more accurately is often not only acceptable — it is appropriate.
How under-releasing time affects targets and sustainability
The cumulative cost of under-releasing time
Under-releasing by even a small amount each day adds up quickly.
Forty-five minutes a day becomes nearly four hours a week. Over a year, that can amount to roughly 180 hours — more than ten percent of a 1,700-hour billable target.
That difference often shows up later as frantic scrambling at year-end, or as weeks of extra work that no one explicitly asked you to do.
Why releasing non-billable hours matters too
Accurately releasing non-billable time can be equally illuminating. Many associates are surprised to see how much unbillable work they are contributing over the course of a year.
Having a clear picture of this can make it easier to say no, appropriately, when additional non-billable requests arise — particularly if you are already carrying a heavy load.
Practical ways to track and release time accurately
A simple way to track hours without overthinking it
I often show associates a simple spreadsheet to track billable and non-billable time against their annual targets. The goal isn’t micromanagement — it’s about going in with your eyes wide open.
You don’t need a complex system. What matters is knowing how many hours you are working, how many you are releasing, and how those numbers compare to expectations.
If you prefer not to build your own tracking tool, I’m happy to share a basic spreadsheet I’ve developed with clients.
Why this adjustment can ease burnout
Many associates tell me that releasing their time more accurately is enough to significantly reduce their burnout. They aren’t working less — but they stop silently donating large portions of their effort.
That shift alone can restore a sense of fairness, containment, and sustainability.
Considering next steps
If you are a lawyer experiencing burnout and recognize yourself in this pattern, it may help to look closely at how you are releasing your time — not as a performance issue, but as a sustainability issue.
Speaking with a psychologist who works with lawyers in big law firms can help you examine work habits that quietly drive exhaustion and identify changes that support a more sustainable career.
Related articles
- This article discusses how associates can think intentionally about workload, expectations, and long-term career decisions while navigating partnership track.
- This post offers guidance on identifying and reducing non-essential demands when burnout is present but time away from work isn’t possible.