Ian Graham, author of Unbillable Hours

The story—part memoir, part hard-hitting expose—of a first-year law associate negotiating the arduous path through a system designed to break those who enter it before it makes them.

Landing a job at a prestigious L.A. law firm, complete with a six figure income, signaled the beginning of the good life for Ian Graham. But the harsh reality of life as an associate quickly became evident. The work was grueling and boring, the days were impossibly long, and Grahams sole purpose was to rack up billable hours. But when he took an unpaid pro bono case to escape the drudgery, Graham found the meaning in his work that hed been looking for. As he worked to free Mario Rocha, a gifted young Latino who had been wrongly convicted at 16 and sentenced to life without parole, the shocking contrast between the greed and hypocrisy of law firm life and Marios desperate struggle for freedom led Graham to look long and hard at his future as a corporate lawyer.

Clear-eyed and moving, written with the drama and speed of a John Grisham novel and the personal appeal of Scott Turows account of his law school years, Unbillable Hours is an arresting personal story with implications for all of us.

Category:

Education

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• Unbillable
• Hours
• Mario's
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• pro
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[dcardozo4]

I just finished Ian's book Unbillable Hours and thoroughly enjoyed it. The book painted an excellent picture of life in a top law firm and the effort it took for Ian (and all involved) to free Mario from injustice. Congrats on the book but more importantly what your efforts helped accomplish for Mario!

[fsugaryfsu]

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the story told by Ian Graham in Unbillable Hours. Graham gives a honest look into the life of a recently graduated law student going to work for a top corporate law firm. The book gives an interesting look at the day-to-day life of an first year associate. I would recommend the book to anyone thinking about to going to law school or anyone interested in a behind the scene look at the life of a corporate lawyer.

[weezlemomma]

It takes a LIFETIME to build to that--as it does with ANY profession.

So, suck it up, dipshit. Your unbillable hours now mean that when you are a senior partner, some new hire is going to be working unbillable hours for YOU.

Law firms are NOT in the business of making young and untried lawyers rich. They are in the business of winning cases and making money for the partners. Get a clue.

[weezlemomma]

Second, after spending some time in what amounts to the equivalent of a doctor's internship in terms of time spent in school, you graduate to senior associate...a residency. If the firm is happy with your work and you fit in with their social hierarchy, then you might get to be a junior partner, then a senior partner.

[weezlemomma]

Graham seriously needs a reality check. First of all, as a first-year associate, NO major law firm is going to give out important cases to the untried hotshot law school graduate just days after he's passed the bar. If that's what he wanted, he should have started his own law firm.