Hi there,
What will life look like for the next generation of lawyers?
Will they continue to work under 2,000+ hour annual quotas?
Putting in 60, 70, and 80-hour weeks in their quest to make partner?
If you listened to the podcast last week, you know what that kind of culture leads to.
And it's not a healthy one.
We don’t talk about it enough, but the legal profession continues to see high levels of mental illness, substance abuse, and suicide.
According to an ALM Intelligence Mental Health Survey from earlier this year:
- 35% of lawyers struggle with depression
- 66% report feelings of anxiety
- 75% say their career has had a negative impact on their mental health
- 64% say their personal relationships have suffered
And the worst one…
- Lawyers are 4.7 times more likely to die from suicide than non-lawyers (according to the National Institutes of Health)
When asked about the cause in the same ALM Intelligence Mental Health Survey:
- 72% of lawyers said they were always on/couldn’t disconnect
- 59% reported billable hour pressures
- 57% said client demands
- 55% cited lack of sleep
I find those statistics heartbreaking.
But what can we do?
As a former law firm partner, I was part of the problem, part of the reason this culture exists in legal.
But I do see a different future — one that’s not dominated by the billable hour.
Here’s a 90-second clip describing what a better future looks like:
