Disenchanted lawyers: How to increase your retention of young talent

Have a nice day! This is a rather superficial and overused phrase which we all find ourselves saying from time to time. But, how often do we reflect upon what really makes us have a good day, and how regularly do we experience a sense of deep satisfaction at the end of a long day in the office?

The US Declaration of Independence promises the “pursuit of happiness” as a cherished right for all of its citizens and, in the UK, politicians have focused on raising the sense of happiness and well-being across the country. Given how central work is to our lives, these lofty goals imply a need to achieve and sustain happiness in our day-to-day work.

In the legal sector, firms spend millions on staff benefits, opinion surveys and team retreats to encourage associates to feel engaged, motivated and enthusiastic about what they do. Yet, despite this investment, research suggests that lawyers are the most frequently depressed occupational group in most developed countries. So, where does it all go wrong?

Early disenchantment

Typically, young people who join the legal profession are highly motivated, full of energy and have ambitious goals. For many, there is a strong sense of vocation, passionately held ideals and a belief in the law to uphold the principles of justice and liberty. They have a strong conscience and want to make a difference in the world – and becoming a lawyer seems an ideal way of doing just that.

Of course, not everyone enters the legal profession for noble reasons, but even those that don’t are attracted by what they see as sources of personal happiness – the prestige, glamour and big money they believe will come from being a lawyer.

However, disenchantment often sets ?in early, with the postgraduate slog of ?legal education leading to young lawyers finding their time being spent on learning legal principles and memorising case ?law, rather than feeling involved in the ?real business of the law or the cut-and-thrust of transactions.

The apprentice model, where trainees typically spend time on mind-numbing document reviews, photocopying, making up bundles and carrying out low-level research, has changed very little over the years, despite the changing aspirations of the new generation of young lawyers.

With advances in technology, there is even less opportunity than before to be innovative or creative, with much of the thinking that used to be required eliminated by the advent of templates and electronically-generated documents.

So, even at the start of their legal careers, many young associates start to question whether the goals and ambitions that brought them into the profession in the first place will be fulfilled. Adding to the disenchantment with the nature of their work are the relentless long hours and the tyranny of the timesheet.

With the profession attracting a high proportion of perfectionists with a tendency towards pessimism, it is easy to see why many quickly become under-confident over-achievers who find it hard to enjoy satisfaction in their work or fulfilment from their careers.

Amongst the most common causes of occupational unhappiness are a lack of control over work, communication overload, too little information about the context of work tasks and poor communications with a principal.

In a legal setting, these issues are pervasive and acute. Associates commonly find themselves at the whim of their client or partner when it comes to work allocation, and many fear the Friday afternoon moment when their personal plans for the weekend evaporate yet again. They experience little control over their workload, but also suffer from a blizzard ?of information.

Checking emails every few minutes both during the working day and in personal time is now the norm, and inboxes are overloaded with the minutiae of deals rather than the bigger commercial picture or appreciation for a job well done.

To add to their woes, associates find it difficult to build open, honest relationships with their principals for fear of raising issues that might damage their career prospects. They also frequently engage in comparisons with their peers, which can undermine confidence.

For many, a mid-career crisis looms at a relatively young age. Lawyers stop developing under the strain of long hours, repetitive work and a sense of doing ?it all for commercial expediency or ?partner profits.

For some, the sense of boredom, failure or lack of self-worth, compounded by exhaustion and constant pressure, ?leads to depression, alcoholism or substance abuse. In a recent LawCare survey of nearly 1,000 lawyers, 35 per cent admitted to suffering from clinical depression at some stage in their career.
It’s hardly surprising that associates consistently score the lowest in engagement surveys – lower than a ?firm’s partners, trainees and business services staff.

With so many negative factors at play, is it really possible to increase levels of happiness and fulfilment if you practise law?

Addressing the problems

Research by Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky at the University of California has shown that it is possible to alter our levels of happiness.¹ Her research points to three major factors:

1. ?a genetically predetermined factor that accounts for 50 per cent of our sense of happiness;

2. circumstantial factors that account for around 10 per cent; and

3. activities and practices that account for the remaining 40 per cent.

?Lyubomirsky’s research outlines the activities and practises that are proven to make a sustained difference to personal happiness. Both exercising regularly and trying to be kind to others has a positive impact on our sense of well-being, as do cognitive activities such as counting our blessings.

Importantly, from a work point of view, activities such as striving towards key goals, devoting time to meaningful causes and receiving regular feedback consistently predict an increased sense of happiness in her studies.

With this in mind, what can firms do to improve overall engagement, and what can individual lawyers do to find that elusive sense of personal happiness and fulfilment at work?

Aligning values

At the organisational level, there is an opportunity to develop a sense of purpose and common goals by communicating and reinforcing the strategic vision and values of the firm.

By understanding the context of what they are asked to do better, lawyers can align themselves with something they believe in and relate to, alongside the ?daily grind of getting the work done.
If these values are seen to be reinforced by the decisions the firm takes and by the personal behaviours of partners, a clear sense of shared beliefs ?is established.

Feeling that your own values are attuned to those of your firm creates a supportive culture in which personal satisfaction rises. By contrast, any dissonance between your personal values and what you see going on at work can ?be a strong source of discontentment.

Making a difference

The investment that firms make in pro bono and community investment programmes is validated by the outcomes of Lyubomirsky’s research.

By showing strong leadership and giving ‘permission’ for lawyers to spend at least some of their time doing things that make a difference to other people’s lives, or reminding them of the reasons they entered the legal profession in the first place, there can be a significant and positive effect on the sense of self-worth felt by individual lawyers.

Putting an emphasis on meaningful work rather than exclusively on profitable work helps associates to align themselves to the firm’s values, especially if participation in pro bono and community programmes is recognised as valuable through performance review systems and career advancement decisions.

Partners can make a real difference to the sense of well-being amongst the lawyers in their teams. They can ensure that work is shared fairly and that time spent on less stimulating (but necessary) work is properly interspersed with more interesting work that stretches associates and enables them to learn and gain mastery in their field of expertise.

It may not be easy to give junior lawyers a greater sense of control over their work. But, with today’s technology and communication tools, it is possible ?to be flexible about when and where lawyers carry out their work and, by doing so, to create a degree of individual autonomy that underpins satisfaction.

Giving feedback

Partners also have a key role to play ?in working with associates to set objectives and career goals, and to use these as a benchmark to review progress regularly and to reflect upon successes.

Giving positive and constructive feedback routinely through deal debriefs and assignment reviews reinforces a sense of achievement and demonstrates appreciation that deepens an individual’s sense of self-worth, which can be surprisingly fragile amongst high achievers.

Focusing that feedback on each individual and what they have accomplished – rather than on comparisons with peers – helps to avoid a constant undercurrent of disappointment.

Personal responsibility

Alongside the efforts made by firms and partners, associates can and should be encouraged to take steps to address their levels of job satisfaction themselves.

One of the most obvious ways is for associates to take charge of their own professional and personal development and not to wait for or expect someone else to do it for them.

Putting themselves forward for training programmes, client secondments or international assignments is not only career enhancing but, by seizing the initiative, associates will feel uplifted by the sense of control they experience.

Similarly, taking personal responsibility for finding out what’s happening is a constructive way of dealing with a lack of information (the bigger picture), while rigorous inbox management is a good way of coping with too much communication (the minutiae) – two classic sources of dissatisfaction and frustration.

And, of course, expressing gratitude to colleagues for going the extra mile, helping each other out and carrying out small acts of kindness are things that every one of us can take responsibility for.

Having a good day

At the end of the day, feeling good about your work comes down to a sense of having achieved something worthwhile, working with people you trust and like, and keeping the important things in perspective, while counting your blessings.

Not every day can be a good one, and some would argue that a naturally pessimistic perspective makes lawyers more prudent, better attuned to risk and better at recognising the pitfalls of a deal.

But, being happy in what we do, or recognising that we can do something different to achieve the levels of happiness we deserve, is surely the least we should expect and aim for in life.

Jill King is a consultant and the former global HR director at Linklaters

Endnote

1. See ‘Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change’, Sonja Lyubomirsky et al, Review of General Psychology, Vol. 9 No. 2, June 2005