N.Y. Bar Report: Balanced Life is Rare, But We Are the Enemy
Despite flex-time, part-time and other commonplace law firm policies that promote work-life balance, the reality is quite different from what the employee manual might suggest. Attorneys in an ever-more-stressful profession are sacrificing family time and their personal lives to keep up with their work, according to a committee report adopted unanimously Saturday by the New York State Bar Association’s governing body.
Written by the bar’s Special Committee on Balanced Lives in the Law after a three-year investigation that included nine forums held throughout the state, the report blames modern technology, in part, for the problem, says the New York Law Journal. Among the report’s recommendations are that law firms encourage attorneys to take time off during the work day.
“The culture that we have created to accommodate our clients—24/7, 365, instant response, letting technology rule, the billable hour and a little bit, maybe, of greed—has added up to the enemy is us,” committee chair M. Catherine Richardson told the bar’s House of Delegates at a meeting last week. She works at Bond, Shoeneck & King in Syracuse.
The report also recommends that prospective law students be educated about the realities of the profession. “Most attorneys told the committee they did not understand how demanding their jobs would be before entering the profession nor the stresses it would place on other aspects of their lives,” the legal publication recounts.
Many law firms have policies allowing flexible work schedules, Richardson notes. “But then we asked, ‘How many people use them?’ And the answer was slim and none.”
