It’s a well-known fact that law firm life is terrible for your health — physical, mental, and social well-being. It’s also a well-known fact that lawyers suffer from alcohol/substance abuse, depression, burnout, stress, and anxiety at a much higher rate than the general population. (Source: SC Bar HELP Task Force) Lawyers are also at a much higher risk for suicide. Despite the evidence, there’s little being done to address this issue. Part of the problem is that lawyers love stare decisis — when something isn’t working, double down and do more of the thing that is NOT working, because inaction is better than trying something new.
Mental health issues aren’t the only problems law firms face. As discussed in a recent New York Times article, Graying Firms Wrestle With Making Room for Younger Lawyers, most law firms have “little incentive for innovation because fellow law firms were also inclined toward the status quo.” Law firms are doing a terrible job of training and encouraging the younger generation of lawyers into leadership roles.
“Current firm leaders are largely boomer-era achievers and significantly older than their counterparts in corporations. Less than 5% of managing partners or their equivalents in the top 100 firms were born between the early 1960’s and the early 1980’s, the Generation X period. In comparison, almost 20% of Fortune 100 corporations and 30% of companies traded on the Nasdaq stock market have leaders in that generation, according to the research.”
Fundamentally, to fix or improve the current system, we need shifts on three different levels — cultural shift on an organizational level, on an interpersonal level (how people within the organization interact with each other), and on an individual level.
I’ll address the first level, cultural shift, in this post. This post is meant to be a starting point — not a comprehensive guide.
Cultural shift in organizational level
Susan Bernstein, MBA, PhD, Executive + Career Coach, wrote an excellent article on what employees want from their workplace. There’s been much discussion about the Millennial generation. Some claim that they’re lazy and self-entitled, while others claim they’re deeply caring and mission-driven.
Bernstein offers some practical ways organizations can improve their employees’ sense of belonging and help to rally around a common mission:
I want to make a meaningful difference in the world.
So please avoid giving me little piecemeal projects, especially without enough context. Show me where the activities I’m doing fit into the bigger picture.
Along those lines, when the strategic focus is either unclear or keeps shifting, then the work I’m doing changes day to day. That feels dizzying and unsettling. Please work with the senior leadership to clarify and focus on a few sustainable goals and objectives.
Lawyers are often given projects without a context for how their work fits into the bigger picture. Being the smallest cog in the wheel without understanding how their work makes an impact leads to disengagement and dissatisfaction.
This should go without saying but set guidelines for ethical behaviors — common complaints at law firms include shouting, throwing objects, temper tantrums, and other abuses. It’s 2019, folks. These behaviors are not okay, not at law firms or at any workplace. Again, completely obvious but as a recent study verifies, a toxic work environment is bad for the bottom line.
Far from guiding and mentoring, the main perpetrators of mistreatment in firms were typically male partners who were older than their subordinates and often likely to target female employees.
Mistreatment was leading to higher absenteeism and staff turnover rates, with lawyers being three times as likely to resign after being badly treated.
Factors including an unethical climate in the workplace, destructive leadership styles and poor human resources policies and practices are also affecting organisational culture, as well as job performance, satisfaction, and commitment.
One way to facilitate cultural shift at law firms is to hire for diversity and increase diversity at the management level. Innovation can’t happen when people sitting around the boardroom table look alike, think alike, and are a group of cookie-cutter “yes” men. As discussed in my recent article:
Diversity enhances creativity. It encourages the search for novel information and perspectives, leading to better decision making and problem solving. Diversity can improve the bottom line of companies and lead to unfettered discoveries and breakthrough innovations. Even simply being exposed to diversity can change the way you think.
What does your law firm stand for? What is its core mission? Is it to maximize billable hours from associates, and work them until they burn out and leave? What is the culture of the firm?
Here’s Google’s statement on its culture:
It’s really the people that make Google the kind of company it is. We hire people who are smart and determined, and we favor ability over experience. Although Googlers share common goals and visions for the company, we hail from all walks of life and speak dozens of languages, reflecting the global audience that we serve. And when not at work, Googlers pursue interests ranging from cycling to beekeeping, from frisbee to foxtrot.
We strive to maintain the open culture often associated with startups, in which everyone is a hands-on contributor and feels comfortable sharing ideas and opinions.
What is your firm’s commitment to its people? Do you have a work environment that inspires and motivates its people? Is it a workplace that people flock to? Is it a place of innovation and inclusion? Or is it an abusive, toxic workplace where everyone’s looking for an exit strategy? Does your firm value the wellness of its employees — physical, mental, and social well-being?
It is time to rethink law firm culture. We can continue to foster toxic work environments where suffering is the norm, or we can imagine a better, more inclusive, mission-driven law firm, where lawyers actually want to work.
This article previously appeared on Above the Law.