A Significant Step Toward Wellbeing in the Legal Profession: The Power of Honest Narratives

I believe a significant step towards wellbeing in the legal profession could be achieved through honest narratives.

It's (very) rare to see press releases and social media posts about a case we've lost, a client who decides not to renew a contract, or an associate who leaves our firm for another. Our mergers are always touted as successful (even when data suggests otherwise), our lateral hires are proclaimed the best on the market, and our business model is hailed as a new standard for our competitors.

We rarely acknowledge that success, impressive portfolios, rainmaking, Ivy League degrees, prestigious awards, and relevant scholarships can sometimes boil down to luck, or at least, being in the right place at the right time.

We craft our resumes to highlight our career peaks, not our lows. They feature our successes, not our failures.

We're often advised to exclude sabbaticals, hiatus periods, or short-lived jobs from our resumes, even though they are integral to our identity and career path.

And it's almost impossible for us to say "I don't know" to clients who are paying us for certainties.

I hope that one day we'll be able to change this narrative, or at least take steps in the right direction. Because if we want to humanize the profession, this could be one of the most effective starting points.