One of our earliest posts (with the caption "Prospective Lawyers Tell Big Firms They 'Want A Life," posted in June 2007) cited a Wall Street Journal article that wrote about students from some of the nation's top law schools asking some prestige law firms to sign on to principles espousing a saner work environment for lawyers.
Now comes another article appearing the in Los Angeles Times on March 18, 2008 written by Molly Selvin, stating that some Stanford Law School students are also bent on taming the notorious workaholic culture of their future profession.
It indicates, as most of us already know, that young associates at many firms rarely see the inside of a courtroom and get little feedback on their performance, not to mention their lifetime of weekends and evenings in the office.
The article states that the Stanford students got law students at Yale and Harvard to join them in an organization "which is aimed at forcing law firms to change the way they hire and promote young lawyers."
The article states that some law firms are taking notice and, as a result, are building in more flexibility for young parents. Other firms are pairing associates with mentors to help new hires. And, 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. Can you believe that???
Experts say that this new focus is long overdue. Overwhelmed and unhappy lawyers have long been the focus of legal writers - - as well as the focus of this blog.
But, according to Stanford law professor Michele Landis Dauber, there is little sympathy at most big firms for workaholic lawyers given the high starting salaries for new grads and annual per-partner profits of more than $1 million.
According to Professor Dauber, to keep profits growing, "law firms can either put more hamsters in the wheel or increase the number of hours the hamsters are running." She states that associates at many major firms are currently expected to bill 2,200 to 2,500 hours a year, compared with an average of 1,700 hours in 1980. And, when you add in work time lawyers cannot bill, many lawyers are toiling 60-70 hours every week.
Professor Dauber further states that such a crushing schedule requires sacrificing everything for the chance to become partner, even though the odds of making partner become slimmer. She laments, "The hamsters (particularly, the female hamsters) are leaving the cage or getting flung from the wheel."
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