[blindlaw] Reduced Billable Hour Requirement as an ADA accommodation

[Michal Nowicki]

Hi Everyone,

During last week’s conference call on job interview tips for blind attorneys, I brought up the subject of meeting billable hour requirements as a blind attorney. I now have a follow-up question on that topic. Given the fact that we often need more time to complete some tasks than our sighted colleagues due to access barriers, assistive technology limitations, etc., and that it would be unethical to bill clients for this extra time, does requesting a reasonable reduction in the annual billable hour requirement (e.g., from 2,000 to 1,800 hours) qualify as a reasonable accommodation under the ADA and/or similar disability rights laws? Is there any on-point authority? Any guidance on this issue would be greatly appreciated, as I want to do transactional work, most of which is still done on a billable hour basis.

Best,

Michal

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