Maximum Hours Laws and Attorneys

[Michael MASINTER]

Is there any state law forbidding young lawyers from working more than
sixty hours per week?

Lawyers, whether young or old, are professionals, and, for that reason,
are exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Michael R. Masinter                     3305 College Avenue
Nova Southeastern University            Fort Lauderdale, Fl. 33314
Shepard Broad Law Center                (954) 262-6151
masinter at nova.edu                       Chair, ACLU of Florida Legal Panel

On Thu, 4 Apr 2002, David Bernstein wrote:

> For those of you who have been teaching Lochner for many years, I was
> wondering how the increased expectations of hours at law firms has effected
> your students' view of the case.  After all, young lawyers at big firms work
> well more than 60 hours per week.  It's hard to see this as a case of
> exploitation, since the young lawyers are extremely well-paid.  Moreover,
> there seems to be little demand for firms that pay less but require less
> work, except among parents with young children (especially, judging from
> anecdotal evidence, mothers) who arrange part-time schedules.  But if there
> was large-scale demand from top students to work less for less money,
> assumedly at least some firms would implement this deal to get these
> students.  I should think all of this would make it easier for law students
> to see why the bakers in Lochner may have wanted to work more than sixty
> hours, and why it was an interference with their liberty to prevent them from
> doing so (putting aside the claim that the laws benefitted some types of
> bakeries at the expense of others).  Does it?
>
> David E. Bernstein
> Associate Professor
> George Mason University
> School of Law
> http://mason.gmu.edu/~dbernste
>
>