Called the “Wave of the Future” by Reuters, Scale LLP is a full-service law firm built by Silicon Valley founders and GCs to provide an alternative to a traditional private practice.
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For a generation, American law firms have fostered a vision of success that is quantitative, not qualitative. Associate salaries and partner paydays are publicized as indicators of firm prestige. Internally, bonuses and promotions — particularly for younger lawyers — are driven by billable hour metrics, not client satisfaction or results. The ability to withstand challenging and, at times, unhealthy working environments is implicitly viewed as a rite of passage, if not a badge of honor.
‘Success’ Has Not Made Lawyers Happier
The upshot is that institutional firms have transformed the law into a very unhappy profession, according to a Washington Post survey.
As one commentator put it: “[The profession] is supposed to be stressful and difficult. But there’s ordinary pressure, and then there’s what is crushing people, especially younger people, today and driving them out of the profession, never to return.”
Indeed low attorney retention is one of the key issues endemic to modern law firm culture. A recent study showed that fewer than 30% of attorneys who leave a major firm are going to another law firm. The tension between the way lawyers want to work and the way firms make them work also continues to grow. The pandemic largely proved the viability of a remote-work model for most practicing lawyers, yet firms continue to adhere to an outmoded brick-and-mortar model that creates its own economic pressures without benefitting clients in any clear way.
It’s not hard to see how long hours and a lengthening career track would make professionals unhappy. A common assumption is that the high pay many lawyers achieve compensates for those negatives. But higher earnings have not translated into greater satisfaction.
Undervalued, Overworked and Overlooked
A recent study by the American Bar Association concluded that attorney dissatisfaction essentially boils down to feeling “undervalued, overworked, and overlooked.”
Diving deeper, lawyers often cite such factors as:
- Lack of work/life balance (no time with the family)
- Stress, burnout and general lack of mental well-being (anxiety and depression)
- Substance abuse issues
- Little to no autonomy over their work (no choice over work assignments or control over hourly rates)
- No credit for work they bring in or perform
- No time left to build their own client relationships
These tensions and challenges point to a profession in transition. When lawyers leave traditional practice, they embody that transition, and suggest an evolving and evolved way of working that promises to restore the standing of the legal profession. Could it also make lawyers happier? Put another way, what does a new model of success not built on the quantifiable metrics of traditional firms look like?
What Makes Lawyers Happy?
Some have credited the pandemic with recasting traditional notions of “living to work” or “working to live” and creating a newer mindset of “living and working” — choosing a way to work that is also satisfying and enjoyable as part of a life well-lived. Lawyers who have studied and worked to achieve a professional status no doubt imagined (at least at some point) that those sacrifices would lead to a life in which work was rewarding and part of a fulfilling life and career.
The 2024 Law360 Pulse Lawyer Satisfaction Survey supports this way of thinking, finding that legal jobs that provide both financial stability and a supportive environment are more likely to lead to attorney fulfillment. Moreover, a study on lawyer well-being featured in the Journal of Behavioral Sciences shows that working in environments that value professionalism, skill, and humanity over productivity and availability leads to attorneys who enjoy better health and experience lower levels of stress than their counterparts in other work environments.”
What a Fulfilling Practice and Life Looks Like
Fortunately, new models of legal practice not built on the quantifiable metrics of traditional firms are gaining traction among practitioners. Their experiences offer a window into what it means to embrace a “living and working” ethos. Here’s what they have to say about making this transition.
The Chance to Create Your Own Path
San Diego-based litigator Jamie Wells always enjoyed being a lawyer, but felt that traditional firm metrics and targets separated her from her own career choices. As a Partner at Scale LLP, Jamie’s autonomy and the firm’s fully-remote structure mean she’s able to enjoy her working life and provide better client service. “It’s not someone else telling me what I should and should not be doing. I have a lot more ease and time and that allows me to actually be better at providing service to clients. You can have a really successful career and a fulfilling personal life,” says Wells.
Her colleague based in Northwest Washington, Heather Cantua, agrees. “I now don’t need to wait for someone else to give me a path. I create my own path.”
An Economic Model That is Fair — and Lucrative
Scott Wiegand moved his practice to Denver for family and better access to outdoor adventure in the Rocky Mountains. He touts Scale’s remote-first law firm model as enabling him to build a practice that’s “lucrative for the pocketbook and the soul” by owning more of the value he creates.
“The compensation structure removes a lot of the things that make law firms difficult to work in.” says Wiegand. “Because we don’t have a lot of overhead, it creates a lot of flexibility for us.”
A Collaborative Community
“I found my people,” says Scale Partner Brian Elliott after bringing his solo practice to join a national firm that fosters community. Elliott–a former GC who leads the firm’s General Counsel Services group–says: “I wake up in the morning excited about what I’m doing because I get to work with the clients I want to work with and I do it with a group of colleagues that are outstanding in their field.”
His colleague, Partner Kristen Smith Dayley also brought her boutique practice to the firm. Working in a remote-first environment allows her the flexibility to “wear two hats” building a successful corporate practice serving top clients and serving as Executive Director to a major non-profit organization, where she focuses on the deeply rewarding work of humanitarian relief and refugee resettlement. Dayley says, “My priorities are now more what I want to be able to do in the world.”
About Scale LLP. Called the “Wave of the Future” by Reuters, Scale LLP is a full-service law firm built by Silicon Valley founders and GCs to provide an alternative to a traditional private practice. In addition to serving as general counsel, Scale attorneys have been founders and entrepreneurs, have served in BigLaw and in government, and have learned their trade in the courtroom. Scale brings real-world experience and the benefits of a fully-remote work structure to provide expertise and value to clients across its Corporate & Securities, General Counsel Services, Fintech & Financial Services, Real Estate & Land Use, Litigation, and IP practices nationally. Learn more at www.scalefirm.com.
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