Feature Article: Beyond Balance: How to Cultivate Work/Life Synergy in the Law, Part 1
by Arnie Herz
[This month's article is the first in a four-part series from our new work/life columnist, Arnie Herz]
The Work-Life Balance Debate
The heated dialogue about work-life balance in the law shows that this is an important and timely, but very confounding, subject.
On one side, people ask: "Why all the fuss about work-life balance?"
They argue that sacrificing the personal to the professional is part and parcel of practicing law. The law is a hard and all-consuming enterprise. There's just no way around it. You can talk all you want about balance, but in the end, it's just an academic exercise and big waste of time.
As long as law firms stick with a business model forged on the billable hour and reward lawyers for working long, grueling hours, balance will be a red herring. In other words, this camp declares, if you can't stand the fire, get out of the law and find another profession.
The solid truths in this line of argument make it very tempting to dismiss the idea of lawyer work-life balance outright as complete bunk.
Then again, as many others point out, it's not so easy to ignore the unmistakable signs that something is way off about life in the law as we know it.
Just like the natural environment around us, lawyers are suffering from energy drain and depletion. They're losing vital life force.
Recent studies and statistics showing elevated levels of lawyer depression, ill-health, and stress aside, all you have to do is listen closely in a gathering of practitioners to know that a lot of them are:
Dissatisfied
Disengaged
Defecting…in droves
They might not be able to pinpoint or articulate what's going on for them, but these lawyers know that their work-life connection is definitely out of sync.
Staking their claim in the work-life balance debate, law firms focus on the economics of the lawyer depletion, discontent and attrition that confronts them.
They see that they're losing good workers (and potential leaders) who they spent time and money to train. At the same time, they're losing clients who either follow fleeing advisors or switch firms because depleted lawyers make poor service providers.
Turning to HR teams and work-life strategists, firms have come up with an array of initiatives aimed at helping lawyers find more balance in their lives. These efforts include:
Flex-time options
Affinity groups
Mentoring
Coaching
Leadership programs
Although these organizational efforts are offered with good intent and are sometimes constructive, they fall short. They relieve some of the symptoms of lawyer malaise, but leave the underlying cause undiagnosed and untreated.
Arnie Herz is a nationally known business lawyer, mediator, professional speaker and blogger. He is the winner of the New York Enterprise Report 2012 Attorney Lifetime Achievement Award and AV Preeminent rating for ten consecutive years from Martindale-Hubbell. He blogs at www.LegalSanity.com.
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Cartoon: Courtoons
by David Mills
Courtoons are the creation of David Mills, an Ohio appellate lawyer who works with litigants and law firms involved in civil and criminal cases in federal courts across the country. Visit David's law firm website at www.MillsFederalAppeals.com
Video of the Month: "Law School" (Payphone by Maroon 5 Parody)
To watch more hilarious law-related videos from around the web, join us at The Video Venue!
Suzan Charlton is a professional cartoonist who is rumored to practice insurance coverage law as a hobby for a major Washington D.C. law firm. Her cartoons cover a wide range of law-related topics, from law school grades to law firm romance.
Song of the Month: My Lawyer's Back
Bob Noone & the Well Hung Jury
My lawyer’s back and you’re gonna be sorry
Hey la, hey la, my lawyer’s back
Look out my lawyer’s back
You rang?
Look out my lawyer’s back
My personal defender
Your lawyer’s back pinstripe and black
Just in case you ever get on the wrong track
That’s me, your attorney
Hey you’re in a jam again and you’re needin' free
You’re caught red handed and it’s just because
Honey, stupid is as stupid does
Your transaction was an infraction
And now you need a little court action
So they got your name
They got your fingerprints
They even think they know how the money’s spent
The cop says you’re a tough nut to crack
Well put down the donut, Smokey, his lawyer’s back
Look out my lawyer’s back
My personal defender
Look out my lawyer’s back (yes he is)
He will not surrender (just chill)
The jury hangs on my every syllable
And I am good ‘cause each word is billable
The courtroom is filled with gloom
There’s a sense of doom and you must assume
You look deceiving and no one’s believing
You start to plead but I intercede
I give the cop cross-examination
Now the jury’s got reservations
I wake the state trooper from his stupor
Warrantless seach, now what a blooper
No jurisdiction, his case is fiction
Hey no way gonna get a conviction
I’m your first, last, only solution
When they trample on your constitution
So when your rights are under attack
Don’t you worry fool, ha ha your lawyer’s back
Look out my lawyer’s back
My personal defender
Look out my lawyer’s back
He will not surrender
Just bounce a check with me, bounce with me c’mon
Sidestep the issue
Oh, just slide
Jump to the conclusion, uh huh
Put your neck on the line
And trust me
Look out my lawyer’s back
My personal defender (it’s nice to be needed)
Look out my lawyer’s back
He will not surrender (reality check)
So let me say in closing
Just in case your tired butt was dozing
If I’m around it’s an once of prevention
Trust me bub, it’s for your own protection
Cause I do things that you need not do
And I’m suing people that you need not sue
So don’t put up with all that legal crap
Don’t worry your head: your lawyer, your lawyer’s back
Look out my lawyer’s back (oh yeah)
My personal defender (where would you be without me?)
Look out my lawyer’s back
He will not surrender
Just one of the hilarious songs on
Cartoon: Law and Disorder
by Paul Brennan
Cartoon: Jonny Hawkins Collection
by Jonny Hawkins
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You can also purchase original artwork and custom prints (framed or unframed) from Jonny.
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Take a close look!The dials of our watches and clocks are marked in tenths of an hour—the same way many lawyers, paralegals and law clerks bill for their time.
