Boston Bar Prez Decries Law’s Focus on Money

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Boston Bar Prez Decries Law’s Focus on Money

Posted Mar 11, 2008, 10:32 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Too many lawyers judge their success on the basis of money, to the detriment of the profession and their own happiness.

That’s the conclusion of Boston Bar Association President Anthony Doniger, who sees contentment as a better measure of success. The focus on money is causing law firms to make decisions that harm the profession, he asserts in an article published in the latest issue of the Boston Bar Journal (PDF).

In an effort to increase profits per partner and their American Lawyer rankings, some law firms lower the retirement age, harming the ambitions of older lawyers who are ousted. Other firms promote fewer associates to partnership, discouraging younger lawyers from staying, including women and minorities needed in partnership ranks to increase diversity.

The focus on money also increases billable-hour pressures for associates, whose focus on work leaves little time for bar or pro bono activities or satisfying personal lives. And it leads to mergers that take a toll on the lives of lawyers who have to adjust to the new work conditions.

“In the end, we need to ask when enough is enough,” Doniger writes. “Should we be willing to trade some profit or growth in profit for greater satisfaction? It is not about what The American Lawyer says—we lawyers must control our own destiny. Surely it is OK to make a little less next year (or not make more) and take on some new professional or pro bono activities, or yes, even personal activities (there’s nothing wrong with hiking the Appalachian Trail). The measure of our success has to come from our values and not monetary rankings.”

The ABA Journal addressed the time-money trade-off in a February 2007 story. Nearly 84 percent of associates responding to an online survey told the magazine they would be willing to earn less money in exchange for lower billable hour requirements.

Corrected at 1:15 p.m. to note the correct spelling of Anthony Doniger's name.

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Posted by Bonnie Sashin - 3 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 1 hour, 43 minutes ago

Please correct the spelling of the author’s name:
The correct spelling of his last name is
D o n i g e r
Thank you.
Posted by MSG - 3 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 32 minutes ago

It’s about time. I am sick and tired of being considered less than my peers simply because I chose to have a balanced life rather than work for the large law labor machines - oh I mean law firms.
Posted by Mike Hunt - 3 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 10 hours, 46 minutes ago

Well, lawyers have always been grubby, but that’s because there’s nothing else a lawyer can really impress other weasels with other than standing there and saying that he is making in “the high 6 figures” or more (for the super weasels). Until such time as we start recruiting people who can stand up to exalt more than the mighty dinero, we will always have the image of scrawny little weasels, squirreling away the scratch while trying to impress the beautiful model types of the world, who really don’t care about us, but want to be treated nice (which money works to do). We have to get more Michael Crighton’s working in the profession, not these scrawny neurotic Woody Allen types (sorry Woody)--it’s just an image, not you==though Suoon Yee might think otherwise now..

I say the focus on money can also stop if lawyers aren’t paid so much...then a weasel will be just a weasel (not a rich weasel).
Posted by Paul Nicolai - 3 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 5 hours, 20 minutes ago

Headline. Pot Screams Kettle Black. The BBO is home to the largest lawfirms in New England; all of whom worship at the cash altar. Sounds like this article is a fig leaf for the BBO members to hide behind when they “resist” starting wage rises. Ah, yes, another tempest for a teapot.
Posted by irwin Eisenstein - 3 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 1 hour, 47 minutes ago

Many law students and new lawyers sell their souls because of loans required to attend law school. Even with some loan forgiveness - there is a large debt that has to be paid. I have spoken to younger judges who are still paying off student loans.
Even when one attends a low tuition state school, there are still living expenses.
Yes - many lawyers make too much. But so do many doctors and many executives… but most new lawyers are not making the 120k that appears in articles. That is only for the high achievers or Ivy League graduates.

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