N.Y. Bar Report: Balanced Life is Rare, But We Are the Enemy

Work/Life Balance

N.Y. Bar Report: Balanced Life is Rare, But We Are the Enemy

Posted Apr 9, 2008, 02:34 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

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."

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Posted by msg - 5 months, 4 weeks, 1 hour, 32 minutes ago

If we could only have 11 more of him on the Supreme Court!
Posted by Willem DeDonis - 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 3 hours, 41 minutes ago

Im not sure what #1 is talking about--probably working too hard. I agree we’re working too hard. People have to be asleep not to know it, though; law students know it is not like it is on tv, at least I did when I went to law school, I knew that real law wasn’t like LA Law. God knows there are precious few beautiful women (and handsome men are also few and far between). Today’s students seem dumber than I remember others were when I went to law school, though, so they may be in need of a reality check.
Posted by jay lillie - 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 1 hour, 35 minutes ago

And that’s the way it was when my father practiced on Wall Street 50 years ago - so live with it.
Posted by Realist - 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes ago

Jay Lillie - That’s not the way it was when your father practiced 50 years ago, despite the way you or he may remember it. 50 years ago there were no billable hours and the profession of law was just that, not a business focused on the bottom line. Now I’m not saying he didn’t work hard, but it’s unfair to compare the practice of law then to today. There is no comparison.
Posted by AttyElizabeth - 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 22 minutes ago

50 years ago there was not the technology that there is today - cellular phones, hand-held computers, laptops, heck even desktops for that matter. Even when we are not physically “at work” we are expected to check in and be “on call.”
Posted by Gov't Atty - 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 4 minutes ago

AttyElizabeth is exactly right. It is saying something that when we are recruiting attorneys to work at my agency, the fact that they don’t get BlackBerries (and thus are not expected to check email nights and weekends) is considered a huge benefit. I find it sad to watching the other attorney parents constantly checking theirs or on their cell phones during our kids’ weekend soccer games.
Posted by LegalAideIsFun...BUTUnderpaid - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 23 hours, 8 minutes ago

I find it very interesting that there are only 6 comments (5 if you disregard the irrelevant first comment) about this topic, while there are 23 comments to an article posted at the same time about the widening pay check gap and the negative return on investment that is law school.

I am a single mom, so the work-life balance is very important to me. In fact, I have chosen a position with legal aide that pays less than $40K just so I can be there when my daughter gets out of school each evening (or at least MOST evenings...) The relative disparity in the number of comments (while not a scientific predictor, to be sure) points to the fact that our profession as a whole is more interested in paychecks than the work-life balance. If this is true, we will all continue to work insane billable hours and read Blackberries during our children’s games in hopes of paying off student loan debt and providing for our family. Taken together, these articles stand for the premise that work-life balance must suffer if one is to land one of the cherished positions that allows one to actually PROVIDE for their family. Attorneys with families must choose between seeing their families and feeding their families. I wish someone had told me this before I signed up for law school… I would have just finished out my MBA and been done with it!
Posted by NCLawyer - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes ago

"our profession as a whole is more interested in paychecks than the work-life balance.”

Sallie Mae’s a bitch, what can you do? Once you’re $60,000.00+ in the hole you feel like you have to live with the choice you made.

Also, most Americans equate success with money. I don’t think lawyer greed is much different from corporate greed, hourly workers bitching about their cost of living raises, etc. The more insurance clients squeeze us for every extra penny they can put off on us, the more I laugh at all the potshots taken at me for being a “fat cat” lawyer. It’s grim laughter, to be sure, but laughter nonetheless. I would like to hear the same general public hatred for upper level management @ssholes in corporations whose arbitrary decisions affect the livellihoods of hundreds (or even thousands) of employees, but I don’t, probably because the folks who do the bitching actually aspire to be those @ssholes. They don’t aspire to be lawyers (or doctors either, for that matter), because they have a dim awareness that lawyers have to work too hard.

That said, I work at a great firm that does allow generous time/space for a personal life. And it is only because the managing partner is a generous person, unlike so many of the greedy @ssholes in bigger firms.
Posted by Rick - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 21 hours, 43 minutes ago

"I wish someone had told me this before I signed up for law school…”

Always someone else to blame, isn’t there.
Posted by Jack - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 21 hours, 41 minutes ago

Lawyers and law students need to be vehicles of change. They need to shop around firms and pressure them to change these ever-increasing stresses and encroachments on workers’ free time. Fuck 6 minute increments. NOBODY should agree to work for someone who makes you do that.
Posted by LER - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 20 hours, 16 minutes ago

"Many law firms have policies allowing flexible work schedules,” Yea, work permitting.
Posted by CorporateCounsel - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 19 hours, 16 minutes ago

Amen Rick. You would think those educated enough to go to and make it through law school would have been smart enough to actually research the career they were choosing before going to school for it. Ever heard of talking to those who do the job you are about to do? In doing that, they would have learned that you have to work hard as a lawyer. If you didn’t find that out before you went, take some personal responsibility for not doing your research. You can’t use the excuse of “I wish someone had told me about that [insert anything - law etc here] before I did that in the practice of law.
Posted by look in the mirror - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 19 hours, 6 minutes ago

I am perfectly aware that some clients and some senior attorneys abuse the younger ones by making them feel they are on call 24/7. But the blame rests mostly with the younger lawyers’ greed, utter inability to maintain personal boundaries and to say no, NOT with the technology. The whole “you can’t say ‘no’ because you won’t be able to find work in the legal profession” is total bullshit. The truth is there are lots of firms where the culture is focused on balance, you know why?? Because lots of lawyers don’t want to work 24/7, and lots of them get together to form law firms. But yes, to work weekends only occasionally you may have to drain some fat from your paycheck – and many people are simply not willing to make that choice no matter what the consequences are for their personal lives. This is not a lack of options in the profession, this is greed, greed, greed. And please don’t tell me you HAVE TO make 160K/year as your starting salary to pay off those loans. I have 160K of student debt and I am perfectly comfortable taking home 100K working, on average, 50 hours a week at a booming midsize law firm.
Posted by Wil - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 17 hours, 34 minutes ago

You make 100K working, on average, 50 hours a week? Where do I send my resume?
Posted by to Will - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 16 hours, 13 minutes ago

mid size firm, I thought that was pretty clear. I am not saying it is easy to find a job these days, btw, but there are many firms out there where you don’t have to kill yourself to survive.
Posted by i don't get it - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 15 hours, 49 minutes ago

50 hours a week is 11 hours a day, which is 9-9 if you take a lunch break. not exactly a picnick.
Posted by Professional - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 10 hours, 11 minutes ago

Will, was that sarcasm? If so, you should send your resume to Cravath. You’ll be making 160 grand, although I gotta warn you, you’ll be working 100 hour weeks on average. I’ll take the 50 hours for 100 large any day (that’s 10, not 11 hours a day, so 8:30-7 if you take a shorter lunch). It is totally reasonable and permits both a normal life and a very successful career.

Recent grads who think they can be successful on secretaries’ hours are delusional and really, really annoying.
Posted by 2L Somewhere - 5 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 3 hours, 5 minutes ago

It baffles me (from a Law Student’s perspective no less) that people continue to feel entitled to high 6-figure salaries AND time off. Right out of school, you are not worth that kind of money unless you are putting in grueling hours. People need to own up to this fact and then make career decisions. If you decide to take the job, do so knowing that your personal life will be taking a hit. If you decide not to take the job, your paycheck is going to take a hit. The rules of professional organization economics are the same everywhere - learn them, live them, and move on!

As for a 50/hr work week, I’m there!
Posted by amy - 5 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 1 hour, 4 minutes ago

I have chosen to take the “mommy track”, working part time for $35k. I don’t expect to be able to make big bucks now, I’d rather have the time at home while my children are little. I’ll be an atty. for the rest of my life - I can make the big bucks later, when the kids are gone to school and I have many more years of that valuable experience. I remember I was a senior in high school before my parents paid off their college loans, so I guess that makes me feel like repaying my student loan debt doesn’t have to be done immediately. We all have to decide what our priorities are, and what standard of living we are comfortable with. Personally, I’ve opted out of the rat race, and taken the tortoise as my inspiration. The hare may end up with the millions and early retirement, but I’ll be living comfortably AND I’ll have the memories of being there for my kids.
Posted by amy - 5 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 1 hour, 2 minutes ago

I am 2 years out of law school. I have chosen to take the “mommy track”, working part time for $35k. I don’t expect to be able to make big bucks now, I’d rather have the time at home while my children are little. I’ll be an atty. for the rest of my life - I can make the big bucks later, when the kids are gone to school and I have many more years of that valuable experience. I remember I was a senior in high school before my parents paid off their college loans, so I guess that makes me feel like repaying my student loan debt doesn’t have to be done immediately. We all have to decide what our priorities are, and what standard of living we are comfortable with. Personally, I’ve opted out of the rat race, and taken the tortoise as my inspiration. The hare may end up with the millions and early retirement, but I’ll be living comfortably AND I’ll have the memories of being there for my kids.

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Work/Life Balance