Legal professionals face a high-pressure environment, juggling demanding clients and complex legal issues. This constant pressure to perform at our best can lead to burnout. A recent LinkedIn poll showed that 96% of respondents have experienced burnout in their legal careers.
This burnout affects our physical, emotional, and mental health. In fact, half of the poll's respondents said they are currently suffering from burnout. This is a widespread issue affecting both associates and partners.
Key Takeaways
Attorney stress is a significant concern, with 96% of legal professionals reporting experiencing burnout at some point.
Burnout is caused by demanding workplace conditions and affects both junior and senior-level lawyers.
Employers and legal leaders have a responsibility for supporting lawyer well-being.
Seeking support from a therapist who understands the unique challenges of the legal profession can be invaluable.
Developing self-care practices and work-life balance or integration strategies can help mitigate the effects of burnout.
Recognize the Signs
Spotting the early signs of burnout is vital. Burnout can severely affect our well-being, productivity, and our ability to serve our clients. But by recognizing burnout symptoms early, we can take steps to manage it effectively.
Common signs of burnout include physical exhaustion and mental fatigue, fogginess, or slower than normal processing. Many people also experience emotional depletion. Lawyers may also feel cynical and detached, experience a drop in productivity and creativity, and struggle with concentration. They might feel ineffective, show increased absenteeism, and have a lower resilience against regular stressors. Physical symptoms like headaches and sleep problems are also common indicators.
A survey of Massachusetts lawyers in early 2022 found over three-quarters were experiencing burnout, with nearly half thinking about leaving their job or the profession. The 2022 Legal Trends Report noted 86% of lawyers work beyond regular hours, and 73% work on non-business days. Although this is a common practice among lawyers, it is one which contributes to burnout among legal professionals.
"79% of lawyers reported an inability to disconnect from work as a major factor contributing to declining well-being."
By being aware of these signs, we can take steps to maintain our well-being and prevent burnout from becoming a chronic burden.
The Prevalence of Lawyer Burnout
Studies reveal the stark reality of the legal profession's relationship with burnout. It's no surprise that 45% of attorneys often feel stressed by their work. Moreover, legal professionals are 3.6 times more prone to substance abuse than those in other fields. The 2017 report by the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being is eye-opening, and every lawyer leader should read it.
Obviously, the challenges of burnout go beyond our mental health concerns. Burnout significantly impacts productivity, with lawyers regularly noting its effect on their work performance. And these effect reach beyond the individual, affecting our firms and the profession as a whole. The legal field has ranked as high as fourth for risk of suicide, with the percentage of lawyers endorsing suicidal thoughts more than twice the national average: 8.5% of lawyers having contemplated suicide. Burnout is a serious threat to the profession.
Multiple factors contribute to burnout in law, including stringent deadlines, intricate cases, and a competitive work atmosphere. Overwork, poor work-life balance, and ethical dilemmas exacerbate burnout among legal professionals. But we have an obligation to tackle the problem where and when we can, and effective legal leadership can--should--be part of the solution.
"Lawyers are more than two times likely to endorse suicidality than the general population."
Strategies for Preventing Burnout
This short blog cannot be a compendium of everything that works to eliminate, mitigate, or prevent burnout. But I do want it to put on our radar some of the tools and tactics that can help, for both individuals and those in leadership positions, responsible to support others.
At the individual level, setting healthy boundaries is key. It means not pushing for the next career milestone at all costs and defining when it's okay to work extra hours. Reserving time for personal activities and important relationships helps balance our professional and personal lives. This doesn't mean never working beyond 9 to 5 (or 8 to 6, or whatever your "normal" day is). But it does mean making a commitment to not burning down the rest of your life in the furnace of your professional success.
To make that possible, learning to delegate tasks is another vital strategy. Identifying tasks that can be handed over or done more efficiently by others can ease the workload that leads to burnout. By empowering your teams and using their strengths, you can distribute the workload more evenly. This is one way to free up time for self-care.
Finally, an often overlooked prevention measure is connecting with your values and your vision. The pace of legal practice often means introspection and reflection get put aside, on the assumption that they are non-productive becuase they are non-billable activities. On the contrary, I find that getting clear about our purpose amplifies resilience and has the secondary benefit of making it easier to engage and retain clients. Our values and vision provide fulfillment and enrichment that keeps us recharged and engaged.
For leaders, consider these three things your first steps to preventing burnout on your teams: setting a great example; managing workload; and creating a supportive legal culture. To have any meaning, messaging around the importance of self-care for attorneys has to be backed up the conduct of leaders in the office or firm.
Leaders, you need to set boundaries, demonstrate effective delegation, and talk about how your values and vision support your practice.
While your attorneys and legal professionals have an obligation to manage their individual work, leaders should make an effort to create systems and expectations for sharing work across legal teams. Often this means more frequent and more transparent communications habits and finding ways to reinforce desired behaviors. Think creatively, and you may be surprised by how quickly you can make a difference in this regard.
All of this leads to culture. The culture of your law firm or legal organization is the sum of all the little policies, practices, and interactions that individuals have on a regular basis. Find or create opportunities for your people to connect and build strong, curious, trusting relationships. Off-sites, retreats, and workshops are a good start, but culture is about sustaining the practices that protect an organization, not just coming up with them. What are the practices and what is the recurring language that reinforce the culture you want to have?
Coping Mechanisms for Overcoming Burnout
Preventing burnout is the goal, but sometimes we will still succumb to its overwhelming effects. When this happens, seeking support and employing effective coping strategies is invaluable.
A great first step is to seek a therapist's and/or a coach's support. The benefits of working with a coach or therapist are similar, though each approaches a client's situation a little differently. (Note: coaches are not a substitute for the mental health support of a therapist; each should be able to compare what support they can give and how one differs from the other.) These include: reassurance that we are not alone in feeling the effects of burnout; insights into our triggers and vulnerabilities; and development of tools to help us navigate our burnout in healthy ways.
Joining a lawyer support group also offers significant benefits. These can be a platform for understanding and camaraderie with peers who've navigated similar challenges. Sharing coping mechanisms and best practices for overcoming burnout can be incredibly empowering.
Professional support is complemented by various stress reduction techniques. Activities like meditation, regular exercise, and self-care can significantly impact our mental and physical health. Perhaps the best thing you can do to start overcoming burnout is to focus on your sleep. This is an aspect of our health and daily routine that can have tremendous cascading effects--positive or negative. By nurturing ourselves and getting consistent sleep, we can better manage the demands of our legal profession and cope with burnout.
By adopting a comprehensive approach to burnout, we can regain control over our well-being.
A Call to Action
Burnout in the legal world isn't new, but it's becoming a more and more critical issue. Nearly half of lawyers report feeling burnt out, highlighting the urgent need for change. The Big Law paradox of success has worsened the situation. Promotions often bring more demanding work and less personal freedom. This, combined with job dissatisfaction, chronic stress, and feeling undervalued, creates a perfect storm for burnout.
Ignoring this issue can lead to severe outcomes, including career setbacks, strained personal relationships, and serious health problems. We need to tackle burnout and develop strategies to prevent and overcome it. It is vital for our individual well-being and the continued vitality of the profession. As leaders, we owe it to our folks to support them.
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