With the holiday season approaching, associates at Biglaw firms across the country are facing some intense pressure. If they don’t meet their billable hours requirements, they won’t be in good standing at their firms, and if they’re not in good standing, they won’t receive their full bonuses. At their wits’ end, stressed-out attorneys search for the easiest comforts they can find, and those quick comforts are usually found inside a bottle of alcohol. Fueled by booze, these lawyers sometimes cross professional lines in terms of workplace sexual harassment.
Law firms know this well, and yet gallons upon gallons of alcohol continue to be introduced at work-related events almost each and every day. With year-end parties quickly approaching where outrageous amounts of alcohol will be served, we had to wonder, is Biglaw’s drinking culture making sexual harassment problems worse?
Patrick Krill, the founder of Krill Strategies, a behavioral health consulting firm focused on the legal industry, thinks the answer to that question is yes. In his latest Well Counseled column on Law.com, Krill, citing studies which have shown that workplace harassment increases when alcohol is involved, says that “by introducing alcohol into the context of work-related events or gatherings, [law firms] are also introducing elements of unpredictability and volatility into their risk portfolio.”
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Coincidentally, the more women are sexually harassed at their firms, the more women who have been harassed will turn to alcohol. Krill has more information:
In addition to alcohol increasing the likelihood of some sort of sexual misconduct or gender harassment, however, there’s an equally troubling flipside to the equation as well: Problem drinking increases as a result of being sexually harassed. That’s right, not only do harassed individuals have to suffer that indignity itself, but they then could be victimized a second time by the dysfunctional coping mechanisms that the experience may prompt them to adopt.
Research demonstrates that experiences of sexual harassment are associated with increased frequency of drinking, escapist motivations for drinking, heavy episodic drinking, drinking to intoxication, and use of prescription drugs (such as sedatives, antidepressants) and cigarettes. Moreover, ongoing sexual harassment is predictive of increased quantity of alcohol consumption by the harassed individual, a fact that is particularly problematic given that sexual harassment is often chronic in nature. Keep in mind, this is in addition to the psychological distress that numerous studies have linked to sexual harassment, including depression, anxiety, irritability, loss of self-esteem, and a sense of helplessness and vulnerability.
Krill says law firms leaders need to ask themselves some “sobering questions” about their attorneys’ drinking behaviors, and we couldn’t agree more. Biglaw managing partners and other members of firm leadership need to decide what is more important to them: the well-being of their employees or the well-being of their bottom lines. We’re of the opinion that if the former improves, the latter is likely to improve as well.
What do you think? Is your law firm’s drinking culture making sexual harassment problems worse? Please email us or text us (646-820-8477) with your thoughts.
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Unhappy Hour: Law Firms’ Drinking Culture Amplifies Sexual Harassment Problems [Law.com]
Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.