Lawyers Weren't As Lonely Back When Technology Wasn't As Prevalent In Practicing Law

Admit feelings of loneliness. You are not alone.

If you haven’t read E.M. Forster’s novel, Howard’s End, you should.  If you don’t want to read the book, then stream the 1992 movie. The brief epigraph says it all:  “Only connect.”  Nothing really has changed since Forster wrote that more than 100 years ago.

Thus, the recent study report that lawyers rank highest on the loneliness scale should not come as a surprise to anyone, least of all us lawyers. There are few other professions where so much of the work is so solitary. Technological changes and the way law is practiced today makes this kind of report inevitable. I think these changes have made loneliness worse for us now than in dinosaur days.

Just to give a few dinosaurial examples:

1. The disappearance of law libraries in many firms. The law library was a place (in addition to hiding out when you didn’t want to be found) where lawyers met and could ask each other questions about their cases, where something might be found, how to search for a particular issue, or just a bit of schmoozing (non-billable of course). If you didn’t recognize a face, you could introduce yourself, find out a little bit about her and her practice, and then maybe after the research was done, the two of you would go for coffee. (Coffee places, such as Starbucks, were just a gleam in Howard Schultz’s eye back then). It was a way to connect. Usually it was at some diner or other place where lattes, cappuccinos, and other espresso drinks were unheard of.  The coffee was dreadful, but so what.

2. I don’t know what they were called in other cities, but in Los Angeles, they were called “Fegen” suites, after the lawyer who pretty much made the market for them here. He’d rent a floor in an office tower, locations throughout the city and burbs, build the suites out with private offices for solos and small firms, with services including receptionist, mail, copying, conference rooms, and a library, all for one monthly price. It was like the Regus or Barristers or other similar office sharing arrangements we know today, but different from the We Work model.

What was best about those suites and any other office spaces where there was more than just one attorney was the ability to walk down the hall, ask questions, and get answers, and if not answers, where you could go to look. Sometimes, an office colleague who, in answer to your question, said that she had had just a case like that (pay dirt!) and if you asked nicely, you would get copies of pleadings, memoranda of points and authorities, and if that didn’t work, you could get a case number. Of course, nothing was online in dinosaur days, so that meant a trip to the courthouse to pull the file, or if the case was closed, to the archives. Sometimes no file could be found, and it was then reinventing the wheel. Dinosaurs will remember those frustrating times.

The best thing in being in that kind of office arrangement was that it could, and often did, in addition to generating possible referrals, stave off loneliness because you weren’t working by yourself in your home office with only family and/or pets (if those) and the refrigerator for company, long before the Google time-suck.

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Now with the open office plans that many firms of all sizes are using, it will be interesting to see if there’s any less loneliness. I have my doubts, but I will probably be taking a dirt nap before there’s a study on that.

3. Non-lawyers don’t understand the concept of attorney-client privilege and how that affects us. We have the ethical and professional duty to keep client confidences confidential and that runs up against the loneliness issue. We may ask for assistance in terms of hypotheticals like “let me run this fact pattern by you,” but at the end of the day, we carry the burden (and yes, in many cases, it is a burden) without being able to share that load with anyone. That can increase loneliness because you feel you have no one to talk to, and rightly so.

4. Networking meetings are now the way to connect, but I don’t think that they necessarily decrease loneliness; in fact, I think they can increase it. Why? Let’s see: everyone gives an elevator pitch as to why he/she should be chosen for whatever work is sought. In that elevator speech, given enough time, the speaker gives self-kudos (I don’t know if that’s a word, but it is now) about the business generated, fees made, and so on. Who knows whether those claims are puffing or legit, but they can make others in the room feel lonely if they are not at the same business level as the speaker. Does that person have anyone to confide in about those feelings? That’s loneliness for you.

Connections are hard to make; loneliness is hard to combat in the only profession that I know of where we are paid to be professionally hostile. Do you think that that has anything to do with loneliness? You betcha. Our profession doesn’t usually collaborate. We don’t row in the same direction except in areas that lend themselves to collaborative practice. We pride ourselves on our gladiatorial manner at the cost of loneliness. Is the juice worth the squeeze? You tell me.

Attention is now being paid to loneliness among lawyers, along with other competence issues that affect the profession.  It’s about time — no, it’s way overdue.  People need to recognize, understand, and help other lawyers who feel isolated, who feel lonely, who feel depressed. For far too long, our profession has not paid sufficient attention to these issues that affect more of us than we have been willing to acknowledge. Kudos to Joe Milowic.

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For millennials reading this, whether lawyers or law students, don’t make the same mistakes that we dinosaurs have made. Admit feelings of loneliness. You are not alone. You have long legal careers ahead of you. Recognize loneliness and then connect.


old lady lawyer elderly woman grandmother grandma laptop computerJill 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.

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