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Striking the right balance between work and home
It’s easy to dismiss the idea of work-life balance. It’s a common notion that the only way to find success in the legal industry is to live and breathe the law. Impending deadlines, increasing client demands, and the pressure to keep up with evolving technology often mean putting home life on the back burner.
But as baby boomers continue to retire and Generation Xers and millennials saturate the workforce, many attorneys are bringing a new definition of professional success to the table—prioritizing flexible schedules over long hours and a wealth of experiences over a sizeable paycheck. A balance that used to be unusual is now the difference between a firm retaining top talent and one that’s likely to lose them to the competitor down the road.
This always-on, never-enough mentality ends up resulting in significant consequences to employee longevity. The report, “Law firms competing for talent in 2022” identifies the attributes of law firms where attorneys are more likely to stay (Stay firms), compared to those that have experienced higher levels of attrition (Go firms). A key finding was that associates who said they were less likely to leave their current law firm, ranked their firm culture, the people they work with, and work-life balance more highly than compensation as a reason to stay.
While it’s clear the expectation for balance is here to stay, law firms still struggle with providing a healthy relationship between home and the office. And the time that could be spent outside of work is often being consumed by tedious administrative tasks and efforts to grow the firm, eating away at any opportunity to even the scales.
Failing to address this growing desire can mean maxed-out workers, potential for higher turnover, and unmet expectations. It’s time for firms that are struggling to create this kind of culture to take control and offer the balance sorely needed in the legal industry.
A symptom of imbalance
Just like a car stops working when it runs out of fuel, people can only give so much before they burn out.
The high stress and grueling hours that come with being an attorney means burnout is especially common in the legal profession. Nowadays, clients are demanding more bang for their buck, pushing attorneys to meet aggressive deadlines while offering few added incentives.
And the demands don’t stop there. Outside of practicing law, many attorneys are spending more than 40% of their workday handling tasks such as managing finances, marketing the firm, and improving business development efforts. An overwhelming 74% of responding law firms say spending too much time on administrative tasks is a significant or moderate challenge for them.
This can, and does, have a significant impact on the mental health of lawyers. In the 2023 Report on the State of the Legal Market by the Thomson Reuters Institute, respondents were asked, “has your time in the legal profession been detrimental to your mental health?” Not surprisingly, 24% answered “yes” as it relates to their worth as a human being, and 41% answered “yes” in terms of their availability.
The imbalance of work and life outside of work has been an ongoing issue for the legal industry. According to the Harvard Business Review, older generations are leaving the workforce at accelerated rates. “They made these decisions out of a desire to spend more time with loved ones and to focus on priorities beyond work.”
Preparing for a new ball game
When you broach the subject of work-life balance, one group can’t be ignored. Perhaps the most talked-about generation of all time, millennials, are changing the way business is done. And wise law firms will adjust to their expectations.
Today, 35% of the American workforce is made up of millennials, surpassing both Generation Xers and baby boomers. And according to a survey conducted by Cushman & Wakefield’s global business consulting group, it’s estimated that more than 50% of practicing U.S. attorneys will be composed of millennials by 2025.
This generation of attorneys is bringing along big expectations and differing priorities, including those unattached to a price tag. In fact, according to the Thomson Reuters Legal Department 2025 Series, 50% of millennial attorneys say they would change jobs if it meant more balance between their personal and professional lives.
Complicating matters further, most firms are now generational melting pots, typically home to 3 generations, all defining success in their own terms. Seasoned firm leaders characteristically take a more traditional approach to work, tying success to long hours and time spent in the office. Millennials, however, find a healthy relationship between home and work most valuable, with 63% of attorneys stating that work-life balance is the biggest difference among lawyers of different generations.
What matters most to millennial attorneys is an ability to work faster and smarter, looking at technology to help them work more efficiently. They are the first generation to grow up with access to a wealth of information at their fingertips, meaning they aren’t just comfortable with technology—they expect it.
Unfortunately, this is causing the generational gap to widen even more, with 79% of attorneys reporting that the gap in technology skills and knowledge creates a challenge between generations. That’s a 13% increase in the last four years.
Firms that acknowledge and meet these needs by providing the latest software, accessible communication tools, and automated processes are the ones successfully capturing the attention of these attorneys. A firm not working to bridge this gap and deliver on these expectations only means it will lose its ability to appeal to this new pool of talent.
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50%Say they would change jobs if it meant more balance between their personal and professional lives
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63%Work-life balance is the biggest generational difference
Making balance a reality
Simply put, work-life balance is no longer just a wish-list item. For firms to remain a viable choice for top attorneys, balance must be a tool in their arsenal of resources to improve the well-being of employees and the entire office.
Aside from the individual benefits of prioritizing personal and professional equilibrium, it can save money in the long run. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report, poor employee wellbeing can cost $322 billion of turnover and lost productivity globally due to employee burnout.
Depending on the size of the firm, the National Association for Law Placement found that losing just one associate can cost between $200,000 and $500,000.
While work will always need to be done and deadlines will always need to be met, firms can seize opportunities to incorporate balance into their culture for a healthier, happier future.
Lean on the cloud
It’s common to think of technology as a barrier to positive work-life balance. But firms that rely on cloud software are opening an entirely mobile way of working, promoting a more nimble and efficient way to practice law.
Additionally, the availability of cloud software is leveling the playing field between large and small firms, offering services like matter management, document assembly, and client portals that were previously only available to firms with an in-house IT department. The affordability, accessibility, and security that cloud platforms provide strips away the need for complicated server hardware, software downloads or outside help typically unavailable for smaller firms.
While late nights and weekends spent working are inevitable in the business of law, firms are now using these advancements in technology to provide attorneys with the ability to accomplish the job anywhere. Video conferencing, instant messaging, and web-based applications offer the flexibility to work, communicate with clients, and collaborate with coworkers from any location.
Technology has also provided new ways of working, with many firms having moved to an entirely paperless office. Instead of sifting through mountains of paperwork, firms can efficiently organize their practice online with just a few taps of a keyboard.
What’s more, new attorneys are now expecting their workplace to provide the most up-to-date technology. To keep up, many firms are finding value in using the proficiency of younger associates who are comfortable with technology to implement innovative tools to help them work more efficiently.
Consider the future of law
A conversation about technology cannot be complete without discussing the elephant in the room—artificial intelligence (AI). The expansion of AI in the legal industry has created an incredible opportunity to increase efficiencies, with successful firms leveraging a range of AI applications to aid them in legal research, e-discovery, litigation strategy, and more.
Attorneys are now using this state-of-the-art technology to work more strategically, freeing up their day to take on more fulfilling—and lucrative—work. Because of its human-like precision, AI technology helps sort out problems faster and more accurately, giving attorneys confidence in the result while also saving time.
Go "Business as (un)usual"
Improving business development and marketing is often a major source of the balance disparity, taking precious time away from home to help grow the business. The reality is, law offices face steep competition, both from firms their own size and larger firms with more resources and deeper pockets.
That results in an incredible amount of pressure to not only keep current clients happy but acquire a steady stream of new business in the process. However, services such as online chat and legal call centers are making it possible to be available and connected to prospects looking for help, even when the firm’s doors are closed.
The benefit of these always-on communication methods is three-fold.
First, it gives prospects an open line of communication to a firm whenever and wherever they experience trouble. Because legal consumers don’t stick to regular business hours, they need urgent help at all hours of the day.
Second, it’s how they want to communicate. The Thomson Reuters U.S. Consumer Legal Needs Survey found that 72% of legal prospects contact an attorney by phone, and 47% would consider using a chat service to gather information. If a firm doesn’t have a way to address the immediacy of a prospect’s situation, chances are they’ll find someone else who can.
And the third benefit? Peace of mind. As they say, time is money for attorneys. These services relieve the demands of feeling tied to a physical location for new client opportunities, giving attorneys back precious hours in the day to focus on other pressing tasks.
The death of a day off?
Despite some improvement over the past several years, a 2023 Zippia report noted that that 55% of Americans do not use all their vacation time.
Personal time off is often the first thing sacrificed when things get busy in the office. But when burnout runs rampant like it does in the legal profession, it’s necessary to keep staff recharged and refreshed.
In a blog on stress and burnout in legal industry, Paula Davis-Laack, JD, MAPP defines burnout as a state of chronic workplace stress represented by these three dimensions:
Exhaustion — You feel chronically physically and emotionally drained. Eventually, chronic exhaustion leads to emotional and cognitive detachment, likely as a way to cope with the overload.
Cynicism — Everyone from colleagues to clients starts to bug you and rub you the wrong way. You start to distance yourself from these people by actively ignoring the qualities that make them unique and engaging, and the result is less empathy and caring.
Inefficacy — This is a “why bother, who cares” attitude that appears as you struggle to identify important resources and as it becomes more difficult to feel a sense of accomplishment and impact in your work.
Encourage your employees to take all their vacation time each year and set the expectation that a day off is truly time off from work. This is just one way to stop burnout from occurring.
Be flexible
One of the biggest misconceptions around work-life balance is that it compromises productivity. The opposite is true. It can significantly—and positively—impact a firm’s bottom line.
The Corporate Executive Board representing 80% of Fortune 500 companies found that employees who felt they had good work-life balance worked 21% harder than others. Increased attorney satisfaction can also drastically improve office engagement.
When people feel trusted and empowered to work in their own way, motivation and loyalty tend to trend up.
Flexibility options such as four-day work weeks and job-share opportunities not only help boost morale and promote healthier employees, they allow attorneys the chance to get things done that would otherwise interfere with their work schedules. This can be especially appealing to working parents, attorneys continuing their education, and virtually anyone with other responsibilities that require time away from the office.
Give the people what they want
The results are in—attorneys’ yearning for work-life balance is not a myth. Year after year, the ability to find that balance between personal and professional life continues to grow as a workforce priority.
The firms that successfully introduce a more balanced culture are positioned to see more positive results, oftentimes improving attorney engagement and loyalty while protecting morale and decreasing the threat of turnover. These concepts hold true across law firm sizes.
The immunity law firms had from this kind of balance is now gone. To create a powerful impact on performance and overall health, a firm must reimagine how they’re doing business. Simple shifts in mindset are leading to greater results, helping strike the balance between the happiness of attorneys and the success of a firm.
It’s time to make mental health and well-being a top priority at your firm.
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