?? Helping Businesses Access Quality Legal Support ??| Champion of Women in Law ???? | Thought Leader ?? | Workplace Culture Change Advocate | Top B-Corp Founder | Keynote Speaker | Honorary Doctorate x 2
??? culture of lawyers and the city is on a roll this week! Another article, further **case studies** but I am still waiting for ideas for change! One of the case studies says: "Leaving can feel like failure. That’s the biggest fear of any lawyer. You also get dangerously used to the money. You take out a massive mortgage on a ￡250,000 salary. Suddenly you’ve got a ￡1.5 million property in Fulham and you cannot earn less. So you’ve signed up to a prison sentence." The culture is certainly the product of the people and the values they bring and for as long as the big firms prefer high achievers who are competitive for as long as they remember, I can't see this change fundamentally as this fear of being seen as a **failure** is a huge drag! I didn't feel a failure for leaving the magic circle and starting on my own, from scratch! My first business - a consultancy - didn't scale but taght me what it means to run a business and also what kind of business I wanted to build My second business Obelisk Support | B Corp Certified - scaled hugely but there's no doubt that being a high performer with high expectation of quality control and professionalism helped build it to what it is today **failure** is not how people see you - it starts with how you feel about yourself! #culture #biglaw #juniorlawyers #failure #legalprofession
Julian Summerhayes
3 个月
The profession has no intention of changing. Yes, we can talk about well-being, mindfulness and a work-life balance, but when push comes to Karmic shove, PEP or whatever rubric now applies, will always trump the need to be kind, thoughtful and caring. Put it another way: if profit is the sine qua non of the partnership, LLP or company (there is not a scintilla of difference in my experience) and the work needs to be serviced, and there is a dearth of people to do the work, then something has to give. Also, I don't know who invented the idea of x5/x3 earnings as a way to measure output but when you're paid ￡100,000+ then don't be surprised if the accountants et al. expect a ROI. If all this sounds cynical, I don't demur. Is there a solution? Yes, of course, but no one is remotely interested, as I've said already, in interfering with BAU.
Neeta Halai
3 个月
Law schools teach you to fear failure and lawyers take that with them into practice. Any sharing of vulnerability is seen as a weakness and failure, coupled with a mentality of win and lose... means many feel stuck or afraid to leave. Many young lawyers might not fully appreciate what they are getting themselves into... and when you've worked so hard to "make it" into a City firm... ego comes into play too. Many thrive on the lifestyle and others choose to do it for a while and then move on. Firms will continue to do what they do and people will be drawn to them. Ultimately, there is really no failure or shame in any of it. Each person has to do what is right for them.
The key is how you internalize the concepts of not only failure but also, on the flip side success. I live and practice on an island where the largest law firm perhaps has 10 attorneys. Regardless of where you practice success is seen as driving the right type of car, dressing a particular way, following a fixed set of rules, how late you stay at your office, are you there on a weekend etc.. In 2021 my then business partner and I dissolved our 16 year partnership and went our separate ways as solos. Oh, the horror!! Our firm was one of the top 5, but we both craved a different life and were on different paths. For some it was seen as failure. I’ve heard the whispers, “those girls were not up for the task”. It was for me one of the biggest successes, I finally said yes to me! It took 25 years of legal practice for me to define what success looked like for me, and I’ll never look back.
Leah Steele
3 个月
I can offer this article I contributed to, where I offered some considerations for junior lawyers https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/overworked-corporate-lawyers-reveal-all-3366072?srsltid=AfmBOoq1z3kJVb7MRfhbmP_pB_ck8J4x41pKKvzAXJ3ond21KWEAIPwu
Kurt Demeyere
3 个月
Instead of focussing on the bare number taken away at YE, why don't firms invest more in "genuine" hapiness of their laywers? A genuine interest in happy lawyers is not naieve, but creates committment ánd higher output/revenue & higher retention. Bullying creates the opposite. Until today, very few law firms have a view on why their associates (really) join and leave (money and vague carreer opportunities elsewhere often cited as easy excuses). Which firms will break the circle? Turn-over of (junior & mid)level) associates creates a large cost for an organisation, and can be avoided. Moreover, future associates should also have less naieve expectations: if you agree to start working for such amount of pay, there IS definitely a catch, and certain people are fit for such roles, but not everybody...
Nikki Alderson
3 个月
Well put, Dana Denis-Smith, and completely agree: We really do have to work hard to change the narrative around career progression v. "career progression, your way". Just because it doesn't happen to be linear or tradition doesn't make it wrong, and having the courage to adapt and flex to consider and seize new opportunities going forward should never be viewed as "failure", surely?! ??
Alexandra Geelan
3 个月
It's so sad but entirely unsurprising to read these headlines. It's also a huge sign of the circles I'm in that leaving traditional law firms is seen as the furthest thing from a "failure". Opt out of traditional legal practice was the best thing I did in my career and I get it's not an option for everyone but it's a growing option for a lot of people, and that will gradually cause a cultural shift too!
Monica Hunter
3 个月
I suddenly feel like becoming a coach for lawyers who want to escape. Will this insane culture of work and money ever die?
?? Helping Businesses Access Quality Legal Support ??| Champion of Women in Law ???? | Thought Leader ?? | Workplace Culture Change Advocate | Top B-Corp Founder | Keynote Speaker | Honorary Doctorate x 2
3 个月Full story - https://www.thetimes.com/article/d2940ae6-6344-40c9-be64-2fa397716017?shareToken=ebfd4fc58e380527cde2d5b0362d8456