Biglaw

3 Factors That Make Law Firms So Toxic

Ever wonder exactly what makes law firms such miserable places to work?

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crying_manEver wonder exactly what makes law firms such miserable places to work? Oh, sure, some people work their whole careers at them, content in their day-to-day lives, but they are the minority. The rest find that the long hours, pressure, and lack of advancement opportunities make the experience a terrible one.

The Biglaw business model is predicated upon grinding out the overwhelming majority of an entering class over seven years so that only a few, hardy souls are left in the race to make it to partner. It takes a lot of long hours, incomplete instructions, tight deadlines — both real and imagined — and a healthy dose of a dismissive attitude to make the majority of your employees leave within a few years.

Our friends at Law360 have attempted to diagnose exactly what makes law firm life so unpleasant. They’ve identified 3 factors they say are universal in toxic law firms:

1. Inconsistent Feedback

“All firms that I’ve ever worked with struggle with this,” said Jill Huse [co-founder of professional services consulting firm Society 54 LLC]. “I have found that it can be very difficult for attorneys to hold their fellow colleagues and partners accountable, partly because they tend to avoid dealing with perceived conflicts and having difficult conversations.”
…
“While you would think that attorneys would be more comfortable than the average person at conflict resolution, when it comes to having these critical conversations with their colleagues, many are very resistant,” Huse said.

The classic “lack of feedback” issue comes right before stealth layoffs. An associate hasn’t heard any complaints about his work, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been rumblings. Next thing our unsuspecting associate knows, they’re being told how the firm “isn’t the right fit,” and they are editing their résumé. Tough break.

2. Little Room for Growth

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[F]irms that allow associates to wallow in “assembly line” positions where they work a lot of hours with an opaque and winding path to partnership or other advancement opportunities are likely creating unhealthy competition, bad blood and unhappiness among their junior lawyers, [legal consultant Ed Poll] said.

Here’s a fun thought experiment for summer associates: look around at your healthy ranks. If you’re lucky, three of you will make partner.

3. Lack of Openness

“There is either a lack of communication being shared or bifurcated communication depending on a person’s status within the firm and what he/she is privy,” [Huse] said. “The lack of communication is often viewed as a lack of transparency, which will ultimately cause a loss of trust and declining morale.”

At Above the Law we hear all sorts of gripes about firms’ lack of openness: partners learning about potential mergers through the press, associates hanging for weeks waiting to hear if their firm was even considering increasing compensation, attorneys not being told of staff layoffs until they spent time looking for their (now former) assistant. None of it makes the cogs that power the law firm machine feel like anything other than the aforementioned cogs.

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So law firm powers that be: be aware of the misery and distrust your standard operating procedures are leaving in their wake. And lowly associates — maybe you should start working on your exit strategy.

3 Ways Firms Bring Out The Worst In Attorneys [Law360]

Kathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments about your worst law firm experience. Follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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