Last week I served on a panel about attorney burnout for a bar association club for attorneys in their first 10 years of practice. The panelists had lots of helpful guidance and information to share. The last question asked by an attendee, however, perfectly exemplified the real problem with burnout, highlighting the struggles of a burned out lawyer, and the way I answered repeated the same problem pattern.
Here’s what I mean.
Understanding Lawyer Burnout
Lawyer burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged stress, overwork, and lack of balance in a lawyer’s personal and professional life. This condition is alarmingly common in the legal profession, affecting lawyers at all levels and stages of their careers. When lawyers experience burnout, they often face reduced productivity, decreased job satisfaction, and a lower quality of life. The demanding nature of legal work, combined with the high expectations placed on legal professionals, makes them particularly susceptible to burnout. Understanding the nature of lawyer burnout is the first step in addressing and mitigating its impact on the legal profession.
Causes of Lawyer Burnout
Several factors contribute to lawyer burnout, making it a pervasive issue in the legal profession:
High Stress Environment: The legal profession is notorious for its high-stress environment. Lawyers frequently deal with tight deadlines, complex cases, and high stakes, all of which contribute to chronic workplace stress.
Long Working Hours: Many lawyers work long hours, often extending into evenings and weekends. This relentless schedule leaves little time for rest and recovery, leading to burnout.
Lack of Work-Life Balance: The demands of the legal profession can make it challenging for lawyers to maintain a healthy work-life balance. The constant pressure to perform can overshadow personal well-being.
Chronic Workplace Stress: The ongoing stress in the legal profession can become chronic, wearing down lawyers over time and leading to burnout.
Lack of Mental Health Support: Mental health issues are often stigmatized in the legal profession, making it difficult for lawyers to seek the help they need. Without adequate mental health support, lawyers are more likely to experience burnout.
By recognizing these contributing factors, law firms and legal professionals can take proactive steps to address and reduce burnout.
Recognizing the Signs of Burnout
Recognizing the signs of burnout is crucial for lawyers to take proactive steps to prevent it. Some common signs of burnout include:
Emotional Exhaustion: Lawyers experiencing burnout often feel drained, depleted, and exhausted, even after getting enough rest. This emotional exhaustion can make it difficult to face daily tasks.
Cynicism and Detachment: Burned-out lawyers may feel hopeless, jaded, and disconnected from their work and colleagues. This detachment can lead to a lack of engagement and motivation.
Reduced Performance: Burnout can cause lawyers to feel ineffective, incompetent, and lacking in motivation. This reduced performance can impact their ability to serve clients effectively.
Physical Symptoms: Burnout often manifests in physical symptoms such as headaches, stomach problems, and sleep disturbances. These symptoms can further exacerbate the feeling of exhaustion.
Behavioral Changes: Lawyers experiencing burnout may withdraw from social activities, become increasingly irritable, and even turn to substance abuse as a coping mechanism.
By being aware of these signs, lawyers can take steps to address burnout before it becomes overwhelming.
Asking the Right Questions About Attorney Burnout and Mental Health
The question was about how to handle unreasonable expectations from a supervising attorney. In the example, based on the lawyer’s real-world experience, the partner would promise a deliverable to his client without consulting his team and then delay delegating the task to the more junior attorneys. The partner would then have an unrealistic deadline and freak out because he had promised the client an answer or deliverable by a date that was, by that time, impossible. Recognizing the early signs of lawyer burnout, such as increased stress and unrealistic expectations, is crucial to prevent worsening mental health issues.
The associate asked the panel: What should I do? How should I handle it?
We provided good techniques for communicating the impossibility of the task to her supervising attorney, and how to talk with others about possibly getting an extension for others’ work without pressing deadlines. We also discussed how she could communicate the specifics of what she would be able to produce in the timeframe provided.
This was all useful information, and hopefully, it helped the associate. But thinking about the question later, I realized we had addressed the wrong question.
Whose Problem Are We Solving?
Sure, we answered the question asked, but really, the question was about how to avoid getting in that situation in the first place. More importantly, the answers should have focused on the fact that the associate should not be the one responsible for solving this problem.
There is plenty of advice out there about being proactive about preventing or reducing your own burnout. That was, in fact, the focus of the panel I was on and to whom the associate’s question was posed. But I want to go further and discuss ways senior attorneys and firm leaders in a law firm can create an environment and culture that reduces burnout.
Why? I believe there are ethical and health reasons for the legal industry to adapt to a better working environment. But even if you don’t agree, creating a culture that reduces burnout is critical for the health of your firm’s bottom line. You should be fully focused on retaining associates because otherwise your investment in hiring and training them will be wasted; replacing lawyers is very expensive. More importantly, burned-out lawyers are not able to be as efficient or effective as more balanced, healthy lawyers — and that is a disservice to our clients.
The Role of Law Firms in Reducing Burnout
Law firms play a significant role in reducing burnout among lawyers. Here are some strategies law firms can implement:
Encouraging Work-Life Balance: Law firms can promote flexible work arrangements, such as telecommuting, flexible hours, and compressed workweeks. These options can help lawyers manage their personal and professional lives more effectively.
Providing Mental Health Support: Access to mental health resources, such as counseling, mindfulness programs, and employee assistance programs, can make a significant difference. Law firms should actively promote these resources to reduce the stigma around mental health.
Reducing Workload: Distributing workload more evenly, providing adequate staffing, and setting realistic deadlines can help prevent burnout. Law firms should ensure that no lawyer is consistently overburdened.
Promoting Wellness: Wellness initiatives, such as fitness programs, healthy snacks, and on-site meditation rooms, can contribute to a healthier work environment. Encouraging lawyers to take breaks and prioritize their well-being is essential.
By implementing these strategies, law firms can create a supportive environment that reduces burnout and promotes overall well-being.
The Impact of Law School on Lawyer Burnout
Law school can have a significant impact on lawyer burnout. Several factors contribute to burnout in law school:
High Academic Pressure: Law school is highly competitive, with high expectations and intense academic pressure. This environment can lead to significant stress and burnout among students.
Lack of Support: Law students often lack support from faculty, peers, and family, leading to feelings of isolation and disconnection. This lack of support can exacerbate stress and burnout.
Unrealistic Expectations: Many law students have unrealistic expectations about the legal profession, leading to disappointment and disillusionment when they enter the workforce.
Poor Time Management: Law students often struggle with time management, balancing coursework, internships, and personal life. This struggle can lead to burnout and exhaustion.
By understanding these factors, law schools can take steps to support their students better and prepare them for the realities of the legal profession. Providing resources, fostering a supportive community, and promoting realistic expectations can help reduce burnout among future lawyers.
By understanding the causes of lawyer burnout, recognizing the signs, and implementing strategies to reduce burnout, law firms and law schools can promote a healthier and more sustainable legal profession.
Five Ways to Create a Culture That Reduces Attorney Burnout
1. Make expectations clear
Not knowing what is expected of us is a big contributor to workplace dissatisfaction and ultimately burnout. We don’t know how to act, how to prioritize, what to do, or even to whom to communicate when expectations are not clear. If you are a firm leader or supervising attorney, make expectations absolutely clear. At a minimum, the following should be stated, perhaps even written down, to more junior attorneys:
Assignments
Timelines
“Chain of command”
How to communicate issues and problems with assignments and co-workers
Hours expectations
2. Delegate early and effectively
Delegating is a skill, and, unfortunately, many people are never taught how to do it effectively. The first step is getting clear on what needs to be done: the task, assignment, deliverable, etc. Then it must be explained in detail to the person who will be handing it. The deadline needs to be expressed clearly, including the reason for the deadline. Questions need to be entertained. There must be a check-in at least twice. If you as the delegator do not want to be responsible for checking in, then you must make clear to the delegatee that you expect them to check in with you twice about progress and status. Most importantly, delegate a task as soon as possible. If you are considering doing it yourself but are concerned that you do not have time — to either do the task or delegate — make it your No. 1 priority to delegate it ASAP.
Related: “Three Steps to Effective Delegation” by Yuliya LaRoe
3. Communicate with your team before setting deadlines
If you work as part of a legal team, especially if you are the lead or senior person on the team, discuss responsibilities and availability with your team before making promises about deadlines to clients and others. Your team will thank you and will be able to take ownership of deadlines. Plus, they will learn these skills and carry them forward when they are more senior. Your clients will thank you because they will get timely and well-done work product. And you will be growing as the leader of a team who feels you respect their input. Additionally, recognizing the signs of lawyer burnout in your team members is crucial to maintaining a healthy and productive work environment.
Related: “Escaping the Overwhelmed and Overworked Cycle” by Jamie Spannhake
4. Be an advocate for and mentor to your junior attorneys
It takes time and effort to support the more junior attorneys in our firms, but it is always worth it. They become invested members of your firm or practice group, acquire skills more quickly, and grow more effortlessly into senior attorneys who know how to lead others. If your mentee is in an uncomfortable predicament where she has more than one assignment for more than one partner that needs to be “first priority,” take it upon yourselves, partners, to talk to each other so that your junior attorney is not in the unfortunate situation of trying to manage the partners’ relationships with each other. It’s not their job to do that.
Related: “New Lawyers Should Have More Than One Mentor” by Amy Timmer
5. Model Work Life Balance
Most of us learn best by watching others do and be what we want to do and be. Whether you are a firm leader, partner, senior lawyer or just a year or two ahead of another lawyer, do your best to model more balanced behavior. Take into consideration that your colleague — everyone in the firm — is also a person who has a life outside the office. Outside the office, we all have people, interests and needs that require our time and attention. And taking the time for those people, interests and needs is the very thing that will help us avoid burnout.
Breaking the Chronic Workplace Stress Cycle
As the questioner at my panel made clear, the partner with unreasonable expectations was also likely suffering from burnout, creating a vicious cycle of unhealthy attorneys unable to offer the best service to clients. You can be the one to break the burnout cycle.
Related: “Why Are You at the Office Until 10 p.m.?” by Jay Harrington
Photo by Tangerine Newt on Unsplash
More From Attorney at Work:
- “Why Lawyers Really Struggle With Work-Life Balance” by Dustin Cole
- “Escaping the Overwhelmed and Overworked Cycle” by Jamie Spannhake
- “Organize Your Time With a Good, Thoughtful Plan” by Jamie Spannhake
- “Knowing Is Half the Battle: Pro Tips for First Assignments as a New Associate” by Meyling Ly Ortiz
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