Quality of Life for Lawyers

David Maister has added a professional practices blog to his website.  The new blog is entitled, "Passion, People, and Principles."  His post on Monday, "Warlords and Dickensian Factory Owners," decries the sweatshop mentality inherent in the 'traditional' way law firms do business - on the backs of young associates, by making them work harder and ignoring quality of life issues - and concludes after years of working with professionals of all types that, "lawyers are different."  But not in a good way.  However, he does end his post with this thought, "I continue to believe there's a better way, and to believe that lawyers are not condemned to follow the model they currently favor."

Maybe I'm suddenly becoming more of an optimist than I used to be, but not only do I agree that there is a better way, I believe that lawyers are, more and more, beginning to see the light and change the model which depends on 'using up' young associates to keep partner revenue high. 

There are a lot of factors which could be contributing to this change, including the number of lawyers fleeing the profession, recent studies focusing on the lack of communication within law firms, the rising cost of associate attrition, the number of attorneys joining the ranks of 'solopreneurship,' the continued increase in number of women in the profession, as well as the increased awareness of work-life issues in the corporate consciousness as a whole.

A recent post in the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, The Destruction of Young Lawyers, claiming that law school and the legal profession make young lawyers unhappy and depressed may actually present an opening for even more growth in this area.  A comment from a former associate at a large Manhattan firm included in the post indicates that, after a certain income level, the prospect of making more money, by itself, isn't a significant motivator.  The good news is that those young lawyers that recognize that there's more to life than just making an extra buck will help power the trend toward a better quality of life (and a more 'civilized' practice, as Maister would say).  And that can only help the profession, not to mention its image.