What To Do When You're Tired Of Waiting For The Perfect Job
Good news for lawyers, in whatever size firm, who are innovative, embrace change, and care about efficiencies in service delivery.
Two of my millennial women lawyer friends have had epiphanies that I think are worth sharing.
For most of her young career as a lawyer (e.g. less than six years), Ms. A sought to get a job in Biglaw, thinking that such was the way to success. Friends warned her that she wouldn’t necessarily get the mentoring and training she wanted. After angst-ridden times, it turned out that she didn’t get a Biglaw job. Friends fretted that she was so focused on getting a toehold in Biglaw that she wasn’t able to see benefits in non-Biglaw. Now she does.
Ms. B wanted a government job with the ostensible benefits it would provide. She didn’t get it; she wasn’t devastated, and now she’s carving out a very nice niche practice for herself.
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The hand-wringing about the continuing lack of diversity in the profession, goes on. Diversity in the legal profession is dreadful, and we should be ashamed of ourselves. We suck at diversity.
I think these two women, among thousands of others (probably way more than that), have now taken their career fates in their own hands, not leaving them to the whims of others. While there has been some diversity progress in the last forty years since I was admitted to the bar, the pace is still glacially slow, and women and minority lawyers are tired of being told, “just wait, it’s getting better.” Please. (Dinosaurs, remember the Kinks song of the 1960s, “Tired of Waiting for You“?)
For many women lawyers, especially millennials, their responses are that they’re tired of waiting, and they’ll make things happen on their own terms, rather than waiting for purported largesse from those on high. These days, given the miserable rate at which women become equity partners coupled with less compensation than male counterparts, why go that route?
It should be no surprise that Altman Weil’s 2017 Law Firms In Transition Survey found more than half of the firms report that their equity partners are not sufficiently busy, and almost two-thirds of the firms report that their non-equity partners are not busy enough. In a quarter of the firms, even associates don’t have full workloads.
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In other words, oversupply meets underdemand. The sharing economy doesn’t seem to have a place in law firms in these days of “you eat what you kill.”
More than four out of five firm leaders surveyed say they have chronically underperforming lawyers. Underperforming can take different forms, but more than eighty percent point to “weak business development skills and efforts” as reasons.
Just blame the victim here. You tell me how many lawyers graduated law school with marketing degrees alongside the J.D. You tell me how many firms provide younger lawyers with training in business development, and what that consists of. You tell me how many partners take younger lawyers to lunch with existing clients and then spend the entire meal monopolizing the conversation. How many partners take younger lawyers to lunch with prospects and it’s the same scenario? Since more than half the senior lawyers are not sufficiently busy, at least according to this survey, how can younger lawyers develop business if others won’t let it go? How are younger lawyers supposed to learn business development unless and until they’re given tools with which to work?
The survey notes that almost three quarters of the firms are investing more in business development, but it’s ranked as the least effective method of improving profitability. However, most firms recognize that the fruits from business development take time (duh), but in this era of instant gratification, patience doesn’t seem to be a virtue.
Nowadays, the pressure to bill the hours while simultaneously doing business development, speaking, writing, networking (I still hate that term), let alone include a concept of work-life balance, is turning many younger and newbie lawyers away. Yes, Biglaw can pay the bills and give you the get out of student loan jail card, but at what cost?
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The Altman Weil survey noted that the former stigma attached to the use of contract lawyers, staff lawyers, and part-time lawyers is pretty much a thing of the past. It’s about time. Not every lawyer wants to bill 2000 hours a year, and so flexibility, especially to millennial lawyers, and even some dinosaurs, is desirable.
In the category of “being careful what you wish for,” there’s been much trumpeting and self-congratulatory pats on the back about lateral acquisitions. However, to use a dinosaurial expression, the proof is in the pudding. The survey points out that while the number one approach that firms are using to increase profitability is lateral hiring, only about half of the firms using that approach have seen significant increases in profit improvement.
The big bugaboo is resistance to change. Trying to change lawyer behavior is like trying to get the Titanic to avoid that iceberg. Lawyers are not known for embracing practice changes, and so, the survey notes that law firms are still slow to make changes to increase the efficient delivery of legal services. Two-thirds of the law firm leaders say their partners resist most change efforts, and more than half say their partners are unaware of what they might do differently. So much for lawyers being the smartest people in the room.
As Bill Henderson notes in his blog, Legal Evolution, the biggest problem facing both the profession and legal education is stagnant productivity. He is spot on.
I think it’s a no-brainer to figure out why change is anathema. Anything that reduces income to the firm is bound to cause foot-dragging.
For lawyers who wanted Biglaw jobs and didn’t get them, they should take heart from the survey, as I think it is good news for lawyers, in whatever size firm, who are innovative, embrace change, and care about efficiencies in service delivery.
Not every lawyer has the same aspirations, the same goals; one size definitely does not fit all. Be tired of waiting. Don’t be afraid to innovate, change things up, and ignore the choruses of “it’s always been done it this way.” So what?
Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at oldladylawyer@gmail.com.
