Downtime: Proposal encouraging lawyers to unplug from work sees debate in the House
The ABA Young Lawyers Division offered a resolution aimed at encouraging legal employers to take seriously the concept of unplugged time to help relieve lawyer stress and burnout. (Image from Shutterstock)
What can make the ABA House of Delegates have an hourlong lively debate?
Apparently, it’s a resolution aimed at helping ease lawyer stress and achieve a better work-life balance.
Midafternoon, after hours of discussion and speeches, the Young Lawyers Division offered a resolution aimed at encouraging legal employers to take seriously the concept of unplugged time to help relieve lawyer stress and burnout.
It passed 200 to 144—but not before two amendments to the resolution were debated and defeated.
Resolution 505 encourages all legal employers to adopt policies and practices that provide attorneys with at least one week of uninterrupted time each year during which they are relieved of work-related communications and responsibilities.
The resolution further encourages legal employers to designate a colleague to manage work-related communications and responsibilities to “ensure attorneys can take meaningful breaks while maintaining client service and professional obligations.”
Vigorous debate
At issue was a portion of the resolution that says the ABA “encourages all legal employers to provide billable-hour or paid time-off credit for employees who take time.” The defeated amendments were aimed at tweaking or removing the language.
Sullivan Collins Saint of North Carolina, a delegate for the Young Lawyers Division, said removing the language would make the resolution a “hollow gesture.”
“We know the reality of our profession. Lawyers measure their value in billable hours,” Saint said before the first amendment was voted down. “If taking time off means falling behind on billable targets … many attorneys simply will not choose to take it.”
While resolutions are debated during House sessions, typically most of the diplomatic wrangling over language and scope has already happened before resolutions are introduced on the floor, and the voting is to determine whether to adopt or reject the resolutions as submitted. Amendments are not routinely proposed on the floor.
Rising to speak against one of the amendments, Danielle Borel, chair of the Young Lawyers Division, made note of Resolution 505’s departure from this norm.
“Congratulations, Chair [of the House of Delegates Jonathan] Cole. You and I both discussed how we wanted to see more opposition and engagement at both the YLD Assembly and the House,” Borel said. “I wish it wasn’t on the YLD’s resolutions, but nonetheless appreciate the discussion and recognize that healthy opposition is part of a healthy democracy,” she said to appreciative laughter.
Encouraging flexibility
The House of Delegates also passed a resolution urging all legal employers to adopt policies and practices that promote flexible work arrangements. This could include allowing lawyers time off to address personal and family needs beyond what is permitted under federal and state laws.
Law firms and other legal employers should establish clear, equitable and written polices for flexible work arrangements, according to Resolution 506, also sponsored by the Young Lawyers Division.
In addition, Resolution 506 states that legal employers should provide lawyers with “the tools and resources necessary for them to be successful” with their flexible work arrangements.
Flexible work arrangements refer to alternative schedules allowing employees to vary their work hours, location or structure. These arrangements can include options such as working from home or flexible start and end times, according to the report accompanying Resolution 506.
Flexible work arrangements allow lawyers to spend more time with their families and maintain their mental health and well-being by, for example, reducing commute times.
Millennial and Generation Z lawyers are more likely than their elders to switch positions if they are not offered flexible work arrangements, according to the report.
With return-to-office mandates being made to federal employees and an increasing number of corporations and firms looking to get more people to work from a communal office space, conflicts ahead seem inevitable.
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