Lawyers often face a tricky balancing act between their professional and personal lives. Working long hours, dealing with unfair clients, and managing family duties can stress lawyers and harm their health and well-being. Achieving a proper work-life balance for lawyers becomes crucial to ensure they can effectively navigate the demands of their legal career while also taking care of their personal lives. Striking this balance is essential for mental health, overall well-being, and sustained professional success.
According to the American Bar Association, lawyers spend an average of over 50 hours per week at work. That means they spend nearly half of their waking time at the office. Although they earn higher salaries than other professions, lawyers also experience high levels of burnout. Lawyers are human beings, too. They get tired, stressed, and frustrated, just like everyone else.
Studies show that work-life balance for lawyers are more likely to suffer from depression than non-lawyers. So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed or burnt out, consider taking some time off.
Achieving work-life balance as a lawyer is an ongoing journey. Let’s explore some strategies to help legal professionals strike that delicate balance:
1. Tom Galvani, Patent Attorney | Galvani Legal
Lawyers have a hard time with work-life balance because there is almost always work to be done. We are generally highly motivated type-A personalities who want to perform well and achieve the best results for their clients. Clients frequently have last-minute or urgent requests. Lawyers aim to assist promptly because not doing so can have damaging consequences.
Litigators are also subject to the court’s calendar, which can be set and changed with short deadlines. I schedule time for exercise first thing in the morning. Then, I make breakfast for the family and get the kids out the door to school. I have a plan for the day, but it only sometimes goes according to schedule.
New client calls and lots of incoming emails can quickly derail. Most attorneys like to work in big chunks of uninterrupted time to focus on writing successful arguments. If I turn my phone off to focus on work, it often means I’ll spend extra time later returning missed calls. This can result in lost income.
Also, for most small offices, we worry when we are too busy that we need to get all the work done fast enough. And when we aren’t happening, we’re worried that we will never be busy again!
2. Joshua Rogala, Criminal Defence Lawyer | Winnipeg Criminal Defence Lawyer
As a new lawyer, I found the market extremely competitive. With little to no experience, that meant working longer hours with less pay to establish my practice. As the year went on, fewer and fewer lawyers from my graduating year remained in my area of practice. Over time, I created a good network of lawyers both within and outside my firm, making my workplace a positive environment. As my practice grew, I stayed in demand, keeping the same attitude I had from the beginning. This significantly took away from other areas of my life as I worked all day hours during the week.
I consciously decided to lighten my workload by referring some of the less challenging cases to my associates. Although my income slightly decreased, my mental health improved, and I became more productive at the office. It’s crucial to reconsider the typical lawyer lifestyle to prevent declining productivity. The extra free time has also let me be a better mentor, adding value and aiding the growth of junior lawyers in my office.
3. Gregory M. Rada, VA Benefits Attorney | After Service
As a solo practitioner, my income is directly related to the amount of time I work. So, it’s hard to be off the clock because I’m always thinking I could earn more income if I were working. Should I go for a 3-hour bike ride? Or should I work for those 3 hours to provide as much as possible for my family? I suspect this mentality applies to all solo attorneys and partners at firms because of the dynamic that time put into work has a direct relation to income earned.
My practice has an added dynamic because I represent veterans and their families against the VA to make sure they receive the VA benefits they’ve earned. Thus, when a compelling case presents itself, it’s hard for me to turn away from that veteran, even if my current caseload is too high.
Achieving a balance was difficult for the first eight years of my practice. But now, since I had children, it’s become more accessible. My technique is to do daily affirmations where I ask myself, will my children remember and appreciate my increasing my bottom line by another 10%, or will they remember and enjoy the time I spent with them? When I ask myself that, the answer is obvious: allowing me to put the work away and focus on life.
4. Tina Willis, Personal Injury Lawyer | Injury Attorney Florida
I think the practice of law itself pulls anyone away from balance and into work for a variety of reasons, including:
(i) By definition, most practice areas are more competitive than any other profession. We win or lose many battles. And working more increases the likelihood that you will win. This may be why 90% of cases settle. But still, there are good and bad settlements, which are primarily affected by the amount of work the lawyer put into the matter.
(ii) The potential intellectual work that could increase case value is virtually limitless in any size case. There are always more cases to research, practice guides to consult, and various forms of evidence to pursue or study (and the like), and those are challenges that take time and effort.
(iii)The impact we could have on our clients’ lives. Other than the medical profession, few professionals could have such a profound positive or negative impact on their client’s lives.
Here’s how I achieve work/life balance:
(i) Most days since I graduated from law school, I put exercise (in my case, running, but it could be anything) at the top of the list of my daily priorities. If we don’t have health, we have nothing for ourselves and eventually nothing to offer others.
Taking time before starting client work most days lowers my stress and increases my work-life balance.
(ii) During My first several years after law school, I struggled with working into the night and on many weekends. That ran me into the ground mentally in a big firm environment.
But since I started my practice, thankfully, I have adopted a Monday-Friday, 9ish to 6ish schedule. I also fill my nights and weekends with other pursuits or hobbies. So, I have something else I need to do, and I feel a sense of obligation to those things, too.
When I first started practicing, I didn’t think twice about working nights or weekends. Now, my nights and weekends are already scheduled with non-legal pursuits. So, my schedule and planned activities force me to have a work-life balance. (Most of these aren’t scheduled professional events, just activities that have become so routine that they feel part of my schedule. When my typical workday ends, I have things to do that prevent me from reading another deposition, checking one more case report, etc.
(iii) Lawyers must consider what unhealthy habits will do to them long-term. What value would any amount of money have without good health?
5. Riley Beam, Attorney at Douglas R. Beam, P.A. | Dougbeam
The legal industry is highly competitive, where finding and keeping clients is just as vital as winning cases. Lawyers often handle a wide range of responsibilities, some of which are outside of their primary expertise.
Add to this the long hours, the lack of scheduling options, especially regarding hearings and court appearances, and the last-minute surprises from opposing counsels and their teams. You have a long list of worries you cannot afford to ignore.
Achieving work-life balance soon becomes a second priority as you race to wrap up the tasks on your calendar. As a managing attorney, I have gone through these same struggles and witnessed others fight the same daily battles. Yet, the one answer I have come to rely on and pass on to everyone around me is delegation.
(i) The advantages of delegation:
By delegating work, you can free up your time to take on new challenges and responsibilities. With clients, you’ll have more time to understand their cases better, address common apprehensions, and deliver every bit of news and advice through one-on-one interactions. With your firm, you’ll be able to pay attention to the details of the case without the mundane paperwork distracting you and also notice and address finer details you may have otherwise missed.
(ii) Overcoming the fear:
While I understand that only some lawyers have the resources to delegate their tasks, I believe that they should still consider doing so, as it will allow them to focus on growing their practice and achieving success for their clients. If they allow their daily duties and mundane responsibilities to overwhelm them, they will never be able to explore their true potential as legal professionals.
Conclusion
Legal professionals tend to juggle a lot daily, and sometimes, it can be challenging to strike the perfect work-life balance to maintain the deliverable’s efficiency. Based on the job requirements, attorneys are subject to a ton of stress and pressure, as well as extended hours, so balancing out the moments to have a life can be challenging.
If you are a solo lawyer, law firm owner, or legal professional working with a law firm or corporation and struggling to achieve a constant work-life balance, legal process outsourcing services can benefit you. These services can help alleviate some of the burdensome tasks that consume your time, allowing you to focus more on the essential aspects of your practice and personal life. By delegating routine legal tasks such as document review, contract drafting, and legal research to outsourcing firms, you can free up valuable time to spend with family, engage in hobbies, or simply recharge your batteries.
Moreover, legal process outsourcing can also enhance the efficiency and productivity of your practice. Outsourcing repetitive tasks to experienced professionals can streamline workflows, reduce turnaround times, and improve overall client satisfaction. This, in turn, can contribute to a more harmonious work-life balance for lawyers, as you can accomplish more in less time, leaving room for personal pursuits outside of work.
In today’s fast-paced legal environment, prioritizing work-life balance for lawyers is crucial for long-term success and well-being. Legal process outsourcing services offer a strategic solution to help legal professionals manage their workload effectively while still enjoying fulfilling personal lives. By embracing outsourcing as a tool for efficiency and balance, lawyers can achieve greater satisfaction both professionally and personally.
