#3: On Lawyer Well-Being.
Lawyer well-being. Some people might think this is an oxymoron.
If you look at studies measuring lawyers’ mental health, in particular a 2016 study of more than 13,000 lawyers across the US, you’d be tempted to agree. The numbers are not good. Lawyers are significantly more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety and alcohol disorder than the general population. Truth be told, I do not need a study to know that. I only need to remember my BigLaw days, as an intern and later as an associate, and the stories of people crying in their office, passing out in the office (with EMT having to be called), being yelled at, working through the night, night after night after night. Some of that has happened to me. In those days, my very nice colleagues helped me cope with the job. Many became good friends. We bonded over the shared experiences of high stress, long hours, and difficult bosses. But the associates were not the only ones having a bad time. Despite their successful careers, the partners themselves did not seem to enjoy work at all. When I decided to leave BigLaw behind, several of them even shared that they would not choose the same career if they could start all over again.
There is a widespread acceptance among lawyers that a great career goes hand in hand with diminished well-being. This attitude drives a lot of talented people away (women in particular, according to a recent study). As for those who stay, many are unsatisfied and struggle with various mental health issues that undermine their ability to do their best work and live their best lives. The situation is unlikely to improve on its own. The advent of the internet has meant fewer opportunities for lawyers to recover from the demands of the job.The internet has dramatically changed the pace at which lawyers are expected to work - always faster and faster. It has also become nearly impossible to distance yourself from our job, physically or mentally, because of the dematerialization of work, which the pandemic has only intensified. Our office is where our laptop and smartphone have wifi signal, which is pretty much everywhere. With no time or space to recover from the demands of the job, how can we avoid overwhelm and its consequences on our well-being?
With lawyers being a law firm’s main asset, leaving things the way they are is untenable. The good news is that the 2016 study I mentioned above has led to the emergence of a lawyer well-being movement, aimed at creating a culture shift among the profession. The ABA has been a key player, launching a Well-Being campaign and introducing a Well-Being Pledge, whereby signatories (as of now, more than 200 law firms, law schools and other legal employers) commit to make well-being a core value in their organizations. Well-being is understood broadly. It goes well beyond “occupational well-being, (i.e. job satisfaction) to include emotional well-being, physical well-being, intellectual well-being (i.e. feeling intellectually stimulated), social well-being (i.e. feeling that we belong) and spiritual well-being (i.e. finding purpose and meaning in our lives).
The burden of effecting change rests on the firms’ shoulders. We shouldn’t expect lawyers to improve their well-being without any support or involvement from their employers. There are two main ways in which firms can improve well-being for their people: by embedding well-being into every facet of the organization and by empowering lawyers to improve their own well-being.
Embedding well-being into law firms
This is ambitious as it would ideally require law firms to assess the way they do everything from a well-being standpoint: from hiring, to compensation, to career progression, to interactions among lawyers and with clients... Research has shown that there are many tweaks (big and small) that can be made to the way organizations operate to improve well-being. The idea is to redesign the work environment so that it promotes well-being by default. That way, well-being does not feel like extra work but becomes the way business is done.
Below are some examples:
promoting a sense of belonging by introducing genuine mentorship systems that would go beyond a yearly lunch on the firm’s tab and potentially result in close relationships with meaningful exchanges. Part of the agenda would include well-being, for instance with the mentor sharing what they do to improve their well-being and inquiring about the mentee’s well-being habits.
adding civility (politeness, ability to show gratitude and acknowledge efforts when warranted) as a component of 360 performance reviews to set the right tone.
clarifying the firm’s purpose and helping lawyers find their own “why” at work. Helping clients meet their goals, helping more junior lawyers flourish, helping pro bono clients, being the best boss… Helping is a powerful reason to get out of bed.
making recovery from work a priority, whether at work (by encouraging regular breaks from desk and screens, including phones, either for a chat with a colleague, or for a 10-minute yoga or meditation practice), on the weekend (by introducing rules on email communication “after hours”) or during vacation (by ensuring that people actually take their vacation).
monitoring lawyers’ hours, with alarm bells going off when lawyers consistently bill above a certain number of hours. Athletes are not expected to run marathons every week. So why should lawyers?
Empowering lawyers
The other path to increase lawyer well-being is to give lawyers the required knowledge and the necessary tools to improve their own well-being.
When I read about initiatives in the lawyer well-being space, I feel optimistic. The lawyer well-being movement is gaining momentum. Then I talk to my lawyer friends and reality hits. They know nothing about it. Lawyers logging more than 300 hours a month do not have the time or energy to look for this information. Law firms can bridge the gap between the lawyer well-being space and lawyers.
Law firms can raise awareness by offering CLE credits for well-being training, online courses, presentations, worksheets. However, knowledge is only a first step. We have to practice the skills that do improve our well-being. It takes time and commitment. Yoga can help.
At its core, yoga is about training and calming the mind. In other words, since we cannot cancel the waves, we might as well learn how to surf, maintaining balance and grace throughout. Likewise, in yoga, we practice a set of mental skills and develop the mental strength to return to a calm and steady mind so we can better navigate life’s ups and inevitable downs. We learn to focus, to identify our thought patterns, in particular the negative patterns that distort our perceptions of reality. We challenge our deep-seated beliefs, for instance about what we can or cannot do or how difficult things are. In more scientific terms, yoga trains our self-awareness, focus and cognitive reappraisal, which are essential mental skills for well-being in general, and for the management of our stress in particular. They help us regulate our emotions better. Yoga also helps us slow down, taking deeper breaths, which has the ability to affect our autonomic nervous system and help us recover from stress more quickly.
The great thing is that we don’t even have to practice for an hour every single day. A short and regular practice will do. Oftentimes, we practice mental skills while moving through yoga poses (no toe-touching prerequisite, I promise!). A physical practice usually makes mental skills training less daunting than seated meditation. It is easier for most people to get into it. It also serves the purpose of getting us to move and release the tensions that may accumulate in the body after hours spent sitting at our desk. Yoga also helps increase strength, mobility and balance. It’s a two-in-one practice. For those who favor stillness, yoga can also be practiced sitting in a chair. So give it a try! At Yoga of Choice, we make it easy for lawyers to practice yoga: flexible duration, no need to change your clothes or get special equipment. Do not hesitate to get in touch: you can book a free15-min introduction calls so we can talk about your well-being needs and how I can help you meet them. You can also contact me via Linkedin or via email yogaofchoice@gmail.com .
