but I have worked at a small boutique litigation firm with billable hour minimums since graduation.

The first few years were crazy hours (65 hrs a week to bill 50) but I have hit a groove now (and can assign the work I would lose billing on to junior attorneys) so I work about 9-10 hrs a day with a rare weekend.

I travel enough for depositions and investigation that I can rack up enough 12-14 hr days to put me over 200 billable hrs every month which is my monthly goal. It is sooo much easier than it used to be. My peak was 2575 in a year and that was the absolute maximum I could do without going crazy, but now I bill just over 2400 a year. That is not hard to do when you have plenty of work, which I do.