Driven Apart By Billable Hours

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has issued an opinion in a divorce case involving two graduates of Yale Law School.

Both took positions with “prestigious law firms” upon their 1988 graduation. The wife stopped working after pregnancy complications and the birth of twin boys. She was making $120,000 when she stopped working.

The husband by 2010 was earning over $800.,000 per year, which helped fund a lifestyle most of us can only dream about.

It came at a price

The price of Husband’s salary was as much as 2,700 hours of billable work per year, and it apparently put a strain on the parties’ relationship that slowly drove them to minor violence against each other and, in time, completely apart. By 2009, the parties were sleeping in separate parts of the house, and after attempts at counseling failed, the parties abruptly separated on July 29, 2010.

The court noted that the billables trasnslate into seven billed hours every day of the year.

 The court affirmed the trial court, rejecting the appeal arguments of both spouses. (Mike Frisch)