Swimming Lessons for Baby Sharks: How do I find out about work-life balance at a firm?

How to find out about a firm's work/life balance.

The place not to find out is in a job interview. Although an interview is one of the more common settings in which law students seek this information, it is also among the worst.

I recently participated on a career panel at a job fair. After the panel, I had a great discussion with a student who was obviously bright and self-confident. As we ended the conversation, she remarked,

“Well, I am off to go find out which firms have the best work-life balance.”

Before I could interject, she had turned and disappeared into the sea of recruiters. I feared the conversations would not go well.

Posing the “work-life balance” question in an interview rarely yields the information students seek. The question may also raise concerns about your work ethic.

If you are seeking confessions in an interview, you are unlikely to get them. The recruiter’s job is to recruit. If an attorney on the hiring committee disparaged the firm, you can imagine the conversation that would follow:

“Well, Josh, it looks like everyone you interview goes to work somewhere else. We really appreciate your help on the hiring committee, but we have selected someone else for next year.”

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Firms do have different cultures, and a recruiter can speak in general terms about firm policies and philosophies. But particularly at large firms, associates’ experiences can vary widely. Many factors play a role, including an associate’s practice area and supervising attorneys.

The biggest problem is that the “work-life balance” question can raise the concern that you are not willing to work hard. If you pop the question before you get an offer, you may never get the chance to find out about the firm’s work-life balance.

As a new lawyer, being busy (even very busy) is a good thing. Every project is a chance to gain the trust of other lawyers and to learn. Hard work is also what firms expect.

A senior partner at a large law firm recounted her reaction when a first year asked her how to attain work-life balance. Timing is everything, and the conversation probably did not unfold the way the associate expected:

The partner said, “You need to work really, really hard for two years and learn all you can. Once you have done that, we can talk. But unless you can give practicing law everything you have for two years, we don’t have much to talk about.”

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Okay. That was perhaps more frank that some lawyers would have been, but the sentiment is common. When you first start working, the partners don’t want you to ask about not working.

“Work-life balance” is an imprecise term and means different things to different people. Your first step in finding out about “work-life balance” is to decide what it means for you. Identify your top priorities, recognizing that achieving them will take time and effort.

Your career office, alumni, and associates at other firms can all provide their perspectives on which firms will best meet your needs. Scads of information also exists the Internet. For example, Flex-Time Lawyers has useful resources. (But you won’t ask for a flex schedule right away.)

Armed with this information, you can get more specific – after you get an offer. Try to have some in-depth conversations with the firm’s junior associates. If you know your practice area, start there.

Open-ended questions will yield the most information, and lawyers may be more frank outside the office. Either way, promise to keep the conversations confidential.

Because policies may not reflect reality, try to learn about both. Asking (delicately) for examples can be instructive:

Does the firm allow lawyers to work from home? What does the practice group leader think about that? Do many associates actually work from home? How has it worked out for them?

Similar questions based on your own priorities should give you useful information about achieving your version of “work-life balance.”

In all your discussions, remember to make it clear that you are committed to working hard and contributing to the firm’s success.

Good luck!

Grover E. Cleveland is a Seattle lawyer, speaker and author of Swimming Lessons for Baby Sharks: The Essential Guide to Thriving as a New Lawyer (West 2010). He is a former partner at Foster Pepper PLLC, one of the Northwest’s larger firms. His clients included the Seattle Seahawks and other entities owned by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen. Grover is a frequent presenter on new lawyer career success at law schools and firms nationwide. Some of the questions in this column come from those presentations. Readers may submit questions here or follow him on Twitter @Babysharklaw.