legal sanity

My posts on lawyer experience management, nurturing the partner-associate business relationship, winning the hearts and minds of lawyers, and the economics of lawyer depletion have generated some interesting offline discussions on the root causes of lawyer defection from one firm to another.

While some believe that a desire for more money, status and autonomy remains the primary motivator, others think that many of today’s practitioner-defectors leave firms first and foremost to claim greater professional camaraderie and meaning. In my experience as a coach and consultant to lawyers, I’ve heard more and more practitioners express a willingness to sacrifice prestige and pay for fit and connection. As I’ve said before: High pay and big name clients might get law schools’ best and brightest through a firm’s door; but in the emerging age of the dual-centric worker, big money alone likely won’t keep many of them toiling there year after year after year.

Of course, there are lawyers who thrive in a pay-your-dues firm atmosphere where there’s scant positive feedback and mentoring, no sure prospect of making partner, little to no work-life synergy and tough competition for plum assignments [a business culture David Maister profiles in a terrific post called The End of Apprenticeship]. The legal profession would be in shambles if this wasn’t the case. As a recent CareerJournal.com article suggests, there will always be newly-minted and more seasoned lawyers willing to log long hours in a bid to get (and stay) ahead.

But firms trying to stem the tide of attrition within their ranks have to be candid enough to admit that there’s probably something beyond money, status and autonomy that the fleeing lawyers are seeking in those greener pastures. They must be willing to devote time, energy and other resources to ascertaining what their incoming and remaining lawyers really need to feel connected to the firm in healthy mind, spirit and body. And, once they have a handle on those lawyer needs, firms will have to decide whether or not they’re willing and able to take steps to meet them.