Lawyers Want More Time, Less Stress, Not More Money

Law Practice Management

Lawyers Want More Time, Less Stress, Not More Money

Posted Oct 7, 2008, 11:03 am CST
By Martha Neil

Asked what one aspect of their law practice they would change, if they could, 31 percent of the 300 large law firm and corporate attorneys recently surveyed by Robert Half Legal said they wanted a less stressful work life. And another 30 percent wanted to work fewer hours or increase their personal time.

Only 2 percent said they wanted more more money, the California-based legal consulting firm reports in a press release (PDF).

To try to resolve such concerns and retain talented lawyers, many employers are adding benefits such as flexible and part-time scheduling, job sharing, telecommuting and compressed workweeks, says Charles Volkert, the consultant's executive director, in the release. "Job-related stress and work/life balance issues can lead to employee dissatisfaction and staff turnover, which may decrease a firm’s productivity and directly impact its ability to remain competitive.”

Related coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "How Large Law Firms Motivate: A Better Chance to Advance, Flexible Schedules"

Future Law Office (Robert Half Legal): "Best Practices for Recruiting, Developing and Retaining Top Talent"

Comments

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Posted by MommyEsq - 1 month, 3 weeks, 3 days, 19 hours, 41 minutes ago

I don’t think this should come as a surprise.

While making $180k/year (ala Covington & Burling first-years) would be great, there is no way I would do it at the expense of having personal time. Give me a lower salary with fewer hour requirements and a LIFE any day. I work about 50 hours a week, bill about 1800 hours per year, and earn a very good living working in-house in DC. You don’t have to go the Big Law route to “make it” as a lawyer and it shouldn’t be a surprise that many of us don’t want to.
Posted by And? - 1 month, 3 weeks, 3 days, 14 hours, 57 minutes ago

Of course they don’t want more money. They HAVE money.

Robert Half should do a survey of 300 attorneys working at PI and insurance defense firms who make $50k a year and see what they say.

I’d work 80 hours a week if it meant I could pay my student loans, my rent, have health insurance for my son and still by a week’s worth of groceries.
Posted by Ellen Barshevsky - 1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day, 3 hours, 41 minutes ago

I AGREE with both comments. This article is SKEWED toard people ALREADY making alot of money.

It does NOT address most people, who ALSO have alot of STRESS.

Juist because you are NOT making alot of money doesn’t mean you have an easy job.

My job causes me alot of stress. And I don’t make alot of money. I am saving to buy a morgage with my boyfriend on a house, so I CANNOT just stop and get an easy job—IS there any even out there?

With the stock market troubles, my boyfriend is worried also about his job. So we will all have to worry about doing our jobs BETTER and BETTER then before.

It is GOOD to have flexible work schedule. I do work all hours of the day and nite, and my boss is happy I do.
Posted by Dog Walker - 1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day, 2 hours, 13 minutes ago

The best of these articles still are’nt very thoughtful.
Posted by Annoyed - 1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day, 1 hour, 24 minutes ago

Agree completely with “And?“ - $50K at an insurance defense firm (which is precisely what I do) combined with an 80 hour work week? Survey those people and see how that changes those results. I’d gladly continue my 80 hour work week - the experience is great - but I’d like to be able to pay my bills.
Posted by Bub - 1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day, 36 minutes ago

Given the looming world economic downturn, many lawyers will get their wish and have free time to practice yoga, grow organic veggies and get in touch with their inner selves. Can’t promise it will be stress free, but now they learn what their parents failed to teach them—you can’t have everything and no lunch is free.
Posted by schumbaugh - 1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day, 22 minutes ago

You should limit the ambit of your article - or at least its caption - to big firm lawyers. Unfortunately, the vast majority of attorneys are work exceptionally long hours with relatively little pay - especially when broken out on a dollar per hour worked basis. Adding to that is the stress of direct client interaction -and responsibility - that many well paid law firm trolls do not have.
The caption comes off as false but effective advertising for law schools. “We are making so much money, we would like to cut back a little.“ Sort of like the Viagra commercial “If you have an erection lasting 4 hrs..: Most of the public thinks - with problems like that - sign me up!.
Posted by Chris - 1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day, 22 minutes ago

Articles like this make me sick. Hey ABA, way to pander to the big firm crowd and re-enforce that they are the only law firms that matter.

I also work at an insurance defense firm making $50K a year and work 80 hours a week. If I had a job where I could work just as hard doing nearly the same thing, but make three times as much, then I guess my only complaint would be the amount of time that I put into the office.

In fact, I’d take only of those part time jobs, I could work half as much and make twice as more as I do now.

This isn’t news.
Posted by fear the reaper - 1 month, 3 weeks, 23 hours, 2 minutes ago

I agree that this article is useless and not reflective of reality. If lawyers don’t want more money, then is profits per partner so important? And don’t get me started on flextime and work from home options. Even if they are available, there is enormous pressure to not use them, and hardly anyone actually does.
Posted by Brain Dude - 1 month, 3 weeks, 22 hours, 43 minutes ago

i need more ELLEN. i don;t make $ - i don-t get stress - ELEN don*t CENTS.
Posted by Andrea - 1 month, 3 weeks, 22 hours, 27 minutes ago

Ellen - do you realize your posts are painfully difficult to read? You’re a lawyer, right? I hope you don’t WRITE your motions and briefs LIKe THAT . Or maybe you do and that’s why you’re working such long hours?
Posted by Good Point - 1 month, 3 weeks, 21 hours, 54 minutes ago

Good point:

They do not want money because they have all the money they want.

The student loan debt burden is horrific in terms of how it prevents lawyers from doing what they want to do and contributing more to society through pro bono work.

People from ordinary backgrounds, that get into law school and leave with 140k in debt are constantly CHASING the dollar.
Posted by laura - 1 month, 3 weeks, 21 hours, 50 minutes ago

when l finish my school l want 2 be a lawyer so pliz lawyers need more money
Posted by Free At Last - 1 month, 3 weeks, 21 hours, 44 minutes ago

I’m here to tell you fine people that there is a solution. Work hard, get some clients, go out on your own. After 15 years of firm life, I started my own practice in my garage with a small group of loyal clients in tow. I bill 1/2 to 2/3 the hours I was required to at a big firm and I make about the same money. Of course I have the challenge of running a practice, but with today’s technology, it’s pretty straightforward. My commute is 30 seconds by foot from my house to my garage office. I save time, money and the environment. Best of all, I get to see my wife and daughter throughout the day and I’m home for dinner every night. I encourage those of you who have the experience and client contacts to consider solo practice and working from home.
Posted by PLH - 1 month, 3 weeks, 21 hours, 29 minutes ago

With the addition of legal nurse consultants (LNC) to screen cases for merit, research medical literature to define damages and develop causation, recommend obscure and unknown documents for production requests, and groom attorneys for the medical side of a case, my attorney-clients are able to bill the same number of hours while delegating the medical picture to LNCs like myself at a lower billing rate. Here is an opportunity for lawyers to save time and make more money by referring damage and causation concerns to a consulting expert.
Posted by Also Free - 1 month, 3 weeks, 21 hours, 25 minutes ago

Free at last has the answer - working for yourself is the only way to control your salary and way of life. I was only out a year before starting my own practice-relying on three clients that came with me, criminal court appointments, and the yellow pages. I was still able to gross over $120K the first year, had minimal overhead, and never worked an 80 hour week. Four years later, I am still free, pay my bills on time, and can afford two kids in college.
Posted by matt Muphy - 1 month, 3 weeks, 21 hours, 8 minutes ago

This isn’t a surprise. I recommend reading the article About that First Paycheck in the ABA Magazine October issue for an eye-opener about the realities of the workplace and managing your money so you can have a balance without starving.
Posted by Jesse - 1 month, 3 weeks, 19 hours, 6 minutes ago

The Journal needs to produce more thoughtful pieces. I am about at the point where your articles are completely irrelevant to me and my practice.
Posted by Rocco - 1 month, 3 weeks, 18 hours, 31 minutes ago

Comment removed by moderator.
Posted by Mary - 1 month, 3 weeks, 17 hours, 31 minutes ago

I agree with the general intent of the article. I was a new law school grad who took a job a small firm, expecting small firm hours (in part because I was getting “small firm” pay). After working way too many hours for a few months, I ended up with pneumonia. I left the practice shortly thereafter and moved into the corporate world, where I’m actually making more than I did at the law firm and my hours are FAR better. I know that the hours involved are one of the reasons that so many women are leaving the practice of law, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to have work 80 hours a week and still make time for the things that matter. For me it came down to the realization that some things are just more important than work. Don’t misunderstand me, I go to work and do a very good job while I’m there. But at the end of the day, I appreciate the fact that I can leave and usually not think about work again until the next morning.
Posted by Ellen Fan - 1 month, 3 weeks, 16 hours, 38 minutes ago

In response to # 18: Wow Rocco. I’m not a big firm lawyer (or a public defender) but your post was a little vicious. And somewhat funny.
Posted by Ellen's EX-Boyfriend - 1 month, 3 weeks, 16 hours, 16 minutes ago

I’m sure that some of you will be quite saddened to hear that Ellen and I have called it quits—actually I made the decision to split with her. The reason? Ellen spends all her time posting her absurd comments on this site and attributing ridiculous comments to me, rather than giving me some good loving.

I recently realized that I have finally had enough of HER, so if she keeps writing about things I’ve said or done, they are complete fabrication. Indeed, I have never spoken to her about my work. I know that, if I did, she would post it on this site. I do respect client and business confidentiality.

By the way, Ellen is not a lawyer, as I am sure many of you have figured out by now. In fact. she is not even a law student. She did attend law school a few years ago, but she dropped out after only a few weeks. Apparently, the reason she dropped out was because she is quasi-illiterate. Her profs criticized her from the outset in relation to her strange, random and incomprehensible use of upper-case characters.

For the past few years, Ellen has worked as a photo-copy girl (I mean woman—sorry Ellen) at a small firm in the mid-west. She works part-time, usually afternoons, which is why she can stay up until the early morning hours waiting to be the first to post her comments on this site. All references to her firm, dealing with the managing partner, bonuses, living in New York, etc., are a figment of her vivid (almost schizophrenic) imagination.

In retrospect, I am amazed that I put up with her for as long as I did—172 days. Thankfully, our relationship is now at an end. Hopefully, since she no longer has any reason to write about the things I apparently think or supposedly say to her, her postings on this site will also now come to an end.
Posted by Rocco - 1 month, 3 weeks, 15 hours, 3 minutes ago

In response to Post 21: And it was also true and very accurate.
Posted by Al Tidom - 1 month, 2 weeks, 6 days, 15 hours, 45 minutes ago

Again with the loudmouth judges. What is it with these putzes? Can’t they just live and let live? Who is this person to slash the fees of a hard working lawyer, for spelling bees no less? Oy. This judge probably got his tucches whooped in high school, college and law school, and is just getting even.
Posted by BJ - 1 month, 2 weeks, 5 days, 15 hours, 11 minutes ago

The commentators complaining about their low-salary jobs have poor writing skills.
Posted by Intermittent Worker - 1 month, 2 weeks, 5 days, 11 hours, 8 minutes ago

I think I found the solution. I work for a big firm for two years—earn and save big cash—and then quit and take a year off to travel the world and enjoy life. Then I go to another big firm and repeat the cycle. It seems to be the best of both worlds.
Posted by Satisfied - 1 month, 2 weeks, 5 days, 9 hours, 34 minutes ago

I used to do private civil work, billables, and matching 401k. After three kids and countless calls “will you be home for bedtime stories,“ I now work for the state. Set hours, wow, what a concept. Never work weekends, wow. I miss the 401k, more now than ever, and the bigger salary. But my kids are only little once. I’m glad to be poor. And helping the public interest feels good, too. I miss the money, greedheads, but I’m in love with my wife and kids and I am getting to know them. Life only happens once. I’m living it.
Posted by bob - 1 month, 2 weeks, 5 days, 22 minutes ago

You can make $100,000 working for a 10 person boutique firm without all the hassel of the large mega firms.

Life as a lawyer at a small firm is great.
Posted by So in debt - 1 month, 2 weeks, 4 days, 14 hours, 48 minutes ago

Free at Last, do you also have time to mentor less experienced attorneys who want your lifestyle?

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