Better work-life balance for the law profession
Law school and the law profession are notorious for long hours with little regard for one’s personal or family life.
It’s a tradition that law students must go through and young lawyers must pay their dues on the way to making partner. Sure, there are exceptions, but the stereotype seems pretty common (Speak up, I know at least two of you are lawyers).
Believing that lawyers can and should have time for family and a personal life, a group of Stanford law students founded Building a Better Legal Profession to bring a new focus on work-life balance for the profession:
Those students are asking recruiters tough questions about firms’ commitment to advancing women and minorities and whether workers can hone their talents and still have time for a family.
Prodded by his and other groups, Bruck said, senior partners are taking notice.
Some law firms are building in more flexibility for young parents. Others tout programs pairing associates with mentors to help new hires. A few firms are even modifying or abandoning the sacred billable hour in favor of a compensation scheme that eases the pressure on associates, even if it means senior partners earn less.
I’m not a lawyer and I don’t even play one on the Internet, but I do know that this is one of the professions where the work-life issue really needs to be reconsidered and it’s great that these students are bringing the topic into focus.
Tags: Building a Better Legal Profession, law school, lawyers, Stanford law school, work life balance for lawyersRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Work and Life
3 opinions for Better work-life balance for the law profession
Loth
Mar 26, 2008 at 3:08 am
Well, I will confess to being a lawyer, but in Scotland not the US so the system here is different. I am a partner in a small family-type firm so not one of the big shiny corporate firms that are the worst offenders for this stuff. That said, I always used to say to my trainees that if I routinely saw them still at their desk after 5pm I would start to worry that there was a problem because they should not need to constantly work overtime. I suspect I may be in the minority though!
JayMonster
Mar 26, 2008 at 9:48 am
While I did not work in law, I worked (more than once) on Wall Street, a place that is as notorious for their hours and disregard for family life, and all I can say is… It is nice to see them making this effort to bring this issue to light, but I suspect that it will have little effect.
In the firms I worked (once single, once married with child), there were always people that tried to make an effort to balance life, and make an issue of life outside of the office, these people (including myself when I was the one with child and trying not to live in the office), are summarily dismissed as there is always someone else out there that is “hungry” to do whatever it is to get ahead.
All I can say is I wish them luck.
SlightlyAnon
Mar 27, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I’m not seeing it at all. :(
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