Key Terms

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Law firms tend to operate under a partnership structure. At the top, partners who have an ownership interest in the firm’s business will run the show and make all the decisions. At the bottom, associates work for partners as employees of the firm and are paid a salary to practice. While the vast majority of law firm attorneys are either partners or associates, other positions do exist, including various positions that include the title “counsel.”

While the counsel position used to be reserved for very senior attorneys no longer in the partnership or for those who share a unique relationship with the firm (e.g., politicians or special advisors), the title is now used in a handful of different ways. In this article, we will explore some of the ways that law firms utilize counsel attorneys and what such a position might entail in contrast to being a partner.

What it’s like to be counsel

The definition of counsel is more about what it is not. Any attorney at a law firm (and sometimes non-attorney) that is not a partner, associate, or staff/contract attorney is likely to be called counsel.

If you don’t want the stress of business development that comes with a new firm, and you don’t want to enter a biglaw firm, either, an of counsel position might be the middle ground you’re seeking. Whether you’ve been full time for a while or this is your first year practicing law, it’s hard to get enough business to meet the needs of a small law firm or to clock enough billable hours at another firm. Your job search may pivot to looking at counsel positions as a result.

A few things are certain about counsel positions. First, counsels do not share in the firm’s profits; they are salaried just like associates. How much a counsel gets paid will depend on the individual and the firm, but it will usually be closer to what mid/senior associates make than partners’ compensation. Second, being counsel is less prestigious than making partner or being a managing partner.

This may not matter to some people, but in terms of law firm branding power as a lawyer to clients and the outside world, a partner will be more impressive. Third, counsels must maintain a “close, regular, personal relationship” with the firm or else it is unethical to be one as determined by the ABA. And counsel work still requires being a hard-working lawyer and often logging many hours, even if you’re not the one finding clients in business origination.

Much of a counsel position’s actual characteristics will be hidden from the public eye. Some counsels will work reduced hours in a specialized or technical practice such as tax, benefits, or white-collar investigations, while other counsels will be similar to salaried partners. You may remain active in your bar association and continue to network with other paralegals, lawyers, and former partners, but to a lesser extent than most lawyers in small or large law firms.

Counsels are permitted to work across multiple law firms, but such a scenario is rather rare and speaks to the flexibility of the position. The flexibility is afforded to the law firms in how they design each counsel position rather than the position itself being flexible for the attorney.

Various kinds of counsels in law firms

The ABA provides a few acceptable definitions of the term “counsel” (also commonly called “of counsel”). We will explore each in order.

1. A part-time practitioner, frequently one who is transitioning from a different career path (e.g., former judge, government, or in-house).
2. A retired partner of the firm who remains associated with the firm without actively practicing.
3. A probationary partner-to-be—often as a result of lateraling.
4. A lawyer in between associate and partner but without the expectation of making partner in the future.

The part-time practitioner counsel is not very common. Rather than providing value through the actual practice of law, a mutually beneficial relationship between the firm and an individual can be made official and sustained through the title of counsel. This individual may practice some, but the expected contribution is through specialized knowledge, pedigree, strength of network, or the holding of public office (this one may depend on the state).

The retired or very-senior partner can also be counsel. These counsels are often called “senior counsel,” and involve some partner who has been with the firm for a long time that is either retired but involved for limited matters or has stepped down from the partnership without leaving the firm.

Being a law firm partner can be a rather demanding occupation, and those who have proven their worth to the firm over the years can continue to maintain a close and mutually beneficial relationship while retired or working less. Of course, counsels are not permitted to share in the firm’s profits, so a partner-gone-counsel should expect to earn less and have less decision making than they previously did.

Partner-eligible laterals who are expected to become partners can be parked in the counsel role for a limited time. Some firms will have a probationary period of a year to two years before someone is made non-equity partner.

This policy and process may vary from firm to firm, but an attorney may be counsel just for that probationary period with the full expectation that they will be up for partnership officially in due time. These probationary counsels are usually either laterals (either senior associates or junior partners from other law firms) or those who have spent time away from the firm to have lost an eligibility requirement for being made partner.

Finally, counsel can be attorneys who are permanently not on a partnership track but continue to contribute to the firm with their practice. We can call these counsels “tenured counsels.” Some tenured counsels are not partner-material for various reasons but are still excellent practicing attorneys. Other tenured counsels practice in such a niche practice area that the firm does not want profit-sharing partners for it.

Even if the practice is not super niche, there may not be enough work in a practice to be able to use partners. Counsels will often, but not always, work less than partners and associates, so if matter volume is a problem, a tenured counsel may be the right choice for a firm. Finally, even if an attorney is capable of making partner in a robust practice group, becoming a tenured counsel might be possible because of personal preference.

Avoiding certain partner responsibilities while escaping the up-or-out pressures of being an associate may be desirable to some even if it means coming at the cost of prestige and increased compensation. Tenured counsels may be treated, to some effect, like permanent non-equity partners.

Originally posted on Counsel vs. Partner: What’s the difference?

Biglaw Investor - Personal finances for the aspiring millionaire lawyer

Making partner at a law firm usually comes with a new set expectations for both compensation and responsibilities. The title of “partner” communicates to the outside world that the lawyer has an ownership interest (equity), a personal stake in the business, and shares in the profits of the firm.

However, some Biglaw firms will have an intermediate step between associate and equity partner. That in-between position is often the “non-equity partner.” Read on to learn about the differences between different kinds of partner titles and what it might mean for your career at a law firm.

Law firm partnership is a common goal for most people who have graduated law school. In many different practice areas, the achievement for law firm partners is one worth celebrating. Being on partner track requires a lot of work and perhaps years of proving your worth before getting offers for senior partners or managing partners. New partners must show they have strongly contributed to the bottom line.

Equity vs. non-equity partner

Law firms most commonly use a business structure called a partnership. Partners in business are people who combine resources to share risk, profits, and losses. These kinds of partners are what people usually think of as equity partners (also called shareholders or principals, though less frequently in law firms). In law firms, equity partners are usually seasoned lawyers with years of legal experience. In many cases, a partnership agreement is used to outline the type of partner (such as non-equity partner or income partner) and to address other concerns like partner compensation, expectations over billable hours, management of firm profits, the roles of any manager partner, and more.

These lawyers are made partners by the firm because the existing partnership believes that they will be more profitable for doing so. Equity partners “buy-in” and use their own capital to join the firm’s circle of owners. Unlike associates, equity partners are not limited to a compensation structure of a salary + bonus but earn their money by generating and contributing to the firm’s revenue. Equity partners will more frequently pitch to clients, originate matters, and lead teams (or work solo) rather than get assigned to work under others.

The precisely defining non-equity partner is a more difficult endeavor.  Non-equity partners are surely partners in title. A firm can promote a senior associate and advertise them as a partner on the website without distinguishing between equity and non-equity.

However, the other qualities of being an equity partner may be very similar or entirely absent and anything in the middle. Non-equity partners might have no buy-in, no matter originations, and usually are paid a set salary that is often higher than, but still similar to what a senior associate earns.

Many of the differences between equity and non-equity partnership will vary from firm to firm. An important aspect of partnership is that business decisions, both governance and operations, are made together among partners. How much a firm chooses to involve non-equity partners in these regards (e.g., voting rights, committees, etc.) is really up to the firm.

Some firms treat non-equity partners pretty much exactly like equity partners except for compensation. Other firms might use the non-equity partner position as a training ground for potential equity partners. During non-equity partnership, promising senior associates can be given a transition period to develop the skills and book of business that an equity partner would need to be profitable, all under the official title of partner.

Finally, some firms are known to treat their non-equity partners no differently than the senior associates they just got promoted from, using the non-equity partners to generate high billable rates under the “partner” title, all on affordable salaries.

Non-equity partnership and your career

Most people will face non-equity partnership considerations while rising through the ranks within a law firm. One prominent example is how Kirkland & Ellis will turn most of their seventh-year associates into non-equity partners.

This process at Kirkland & Ellis is so well known that a brief stint in their non-equity partnership structure could mean that another firm still calculates a lateral attorney as a senior associate. Many in the industry consider Kirkland & Ellis’s non-equity partners to be “glorified senior associates,” but it is not certain how the business development or compensation changes for these non-equity partners.

If you are a junior associate hoping to rise through the ranks at a firm with structured non-equity partnership like Kirkland & Ellis, there should be no element of surprise as you approach your sixth+ associate year.

Certain niche practices will benefit from the title of partner without actually carrying the full weight of equity partnership. If a niche practice is maintained by the firm but is not profitable enough to grow as a group or generate significant revenue, a non-equity partner might be the perfect solution.

Clients will want to know that there is a partner working for them, but a salaried specialist might be the most efficient for firm operations. In this situation, a non-equity partner is used to increase client confidence in the firm’s practice while keeping costs low.

Non-equity partnership can also be an important part of decision making for those who are averse to elements of partnership like the buy-in or matter origination. The title of partner can be great for developing a personal brand or increasing billable rates, but capital contribution, voting rights, and irregular compensation do not always appeal to everyone. In addition, equity partners are responsible for their own benefits while non-equity partners continue to receive benefits like any other salaried attorney.

In any event, becoming a non-equity partner is not a bad thing per se. For most, it is a positive signal that an associate is on the right track to becoming an equity partner and that the firm is willing to hold the associate out to the public the same as an equity partner. Non-equity partnership can be a great time to adjust to certain partnership responsibilities without fully taking on the entire role.

If you’re wondering whether non-equity partnership may be right for you, look at your current employer and first determine if non-equity partnership is even an option… perhaps it is even mandatory. If a non-equity partnership opportunity is available, finding out the details will be crucial.

Compensation might be flexible, and the exact architecture of the position will vary from firm to firm for many aspects of the job. As a non-exhaustive list, we suggest looking into at least the following:

• Compensation & bonuses
• Buy-in or capital contribution structure
• Employee status (and with this, benefits)
• Sharing of work origination and credit
• Expectations of performance quality and quantity
• The balance of equity and non-equity partners
• Whether a promotion into equity partner is available after a few years (or if there’s an up-or-out policy)

Originally posted on What is a Non-Equity Partner?

Biglaw Investor - Personal finances for the aspiring millionaire lawyer

Law firms don’t always love attention. When work slows down and there are too many associates to keep productive, no firm wants to be in the headlines for outright firing attorneys. Enter the “stealth layoff,” a firing practice used by Biglaw to try to trim their numbers while keeping it on the downlow. 

A stealth layoff can happen in a variety of ways, but the most typical version is when an attorney is unofficially informed that they should start seeking work outside of the firm. The firm may or may not try to assist with external placements, but the essence of the stealth layoff is to agree to move on from each other without making it look like an official layoff.

For a few weeks or even months, the attorney will continue to work for the firm (perhaps in a reduced capacity) and receive website time while searching for their next job. In the end, the separation won’t look too different than the run-of-the-mill exit from the firm.

Related: Biglaw Firm Layoff Tracker

The reasons for stealth layoffs

Law firms are constantly competing with each other. News of systematic layoffs or financial woes spread fast, and any sign of weakness will draw talent towards competitors. Stealth layoffs do not require a non-disclosure agreement but will generally create less buzz because rumors or anecdotes are difficult to confirm without official data or announcements. If enough stealth layoffs occur, the Biglaw community will typically catch on, but the full extent of the layoffs will be hard to uncover.

Biglaw firms often make sweeping changes to their headcount, whether the claim is around the pandemic, profitability, an economic downturn with plans to cut costs, hiring freezes, or general reductions in the last year to attempt to meet financial goals. It’s not always easy to get a new job, so this is why lawyers need to becoming insiders about stealth layoffs.

Firms can use stealth layoffs to slowly reshuffle or trim their associate ranks. Very few firms choose to rip the band-aid off when having to lay off associates. When Latham & Watkins laid off 400+ attorneys in the wake of the Great Recession, the term “Lathamed” became synonymous with getting laid off and the term has stuck around for over a decade now, even making it to Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary. In an industry where reputation means everything, firms have reasons to hide layoffs where they can.

Getting stealth laid off is obviously not a fun time. However, attorneys who experience stealth layoffs do benefit from the practice in that they are less likely to have a large gap on their resume, they continue to collect paychecks, and their dignity is kept relatively intact as long as they successfully move on to another employment opportunity. 

In certain practice areas, it’s very hard to find a new role in the legal industry because the resume gap makes it look like the layoff could have been your fault. For someone recently out of law school with mostly big law experience and not in-house counsel background, a stealth layoff may prompt internal questions about your practice areas or general interests in the law.

No severance pay is received for stealth layoffs, but the attorney gets to keep collecting paychecks. The nature of law firms is that work won’t be created just to keep attorneys busy. If the work is slow, so will the billable hours of the affected attorneys. In a way, termination could be the natural conclusion when law firms are struggling, and stealth layoffs can sometimes be seen as notice from the firm. Attorneys also care about reputation. 

Even when there’s an economic slowdown, the legal profession might be jumping the gun by thinning the ranks in certain practice groups or by targeting first-year associates. The important thing to keep in mind is that you should know about the possibility of legal services stealth layoffs so that you can response quickly if needed and find a new job. Checking industry reports from Above the Law and American Lawyer can clue you in to major trends in stealth layoffs, too.

Even if official layoffs were conducted firm-wide, the presumption would be that the best or most well-liked associates were not cut. Stealth layoffs allow the attorney to tell a story of wanting to leave, not getting forced out.

Like most other professions, attorneys will get laid off for their inability to produce quality work product or because of personality and fit issues. In those one-off instances, law firms won’t eat the same reputation costs, but stealth layoffs can also provide similar benefits to both sides. Whether you’re in real estate, personal injury, business law, or some other practice area, layoffs are possible. For those who worked hard to obtain an amlaw 100 or biglaw role, it can be devastating for this to happen to you.

If you want to initiate the stealth layoff process, quiet quitting or coasting can have a similar effect. By giving the firm a slight nudge in the direction of viewing you as a potential layoff, you might end up with a little more downtime and a longer job search window. In the meantime, make sure your CV and LinkedIn are up to date.

How to react to a stealth layoff

As detailed above, a stealth layoff is not the worst thing that can happen. Stealth layoffs are not as great as keeping your job but experiencing one could be a catalyst to positive change in your career. The job search begins again, and you should be talking to legal recruiters and networking. 

A stealth layoff is especially useful for lateraling to another law firm because the appearance will be that you are voluntarily seeking out a better opportunity from a vantage point. Your firm might want to help you, especially if they are conducting stealth layoffs without harboring any negativity towards you personally. 

The firm might assist with placement in another firm or even with a client, and you should try to take advantage of the network available to you through your current employer and coworkers. 

Finally, consider alternative career options outside of a law firm. While it’s possible to plan a Biglaw exit on your own terms, many people leave Biglaw because the situation calls for it. A stealth layoff might be the green light for you to pull the trigger and make a career change.

While you are getting stealth laid off, you can begin to take on less work. Since you are collecting paychecks, completely dropping all responsibilities might get you immediately booted (unless you’ve been expressly permitted to do so), but there is no reason to give your absolute and best efforts to a firm that is nudging you out. 

A stealth layoff could be as short as a few weeks or as long as a few months. Use this time to regain some work-life balance and get your life or career in order. Top-notch performance reviews and getting stealth laid off do not really mix well, so if you begin to receive negative performance reviews, don’t take them personally. 

Originally posted on What is a Stealth Layoff?

Biglaw Investor - Personal finances for the aspiring millionaire lawyer

At most workplaces, career advancement is a series of promotions, each with a new title, paygrade, and fresh set of responsibilities. In Biglaw, however, there is effectively only one promotion: associate to partner. Therefore, “making partner” is an extremely significant milestone for a career at a law firm.

Typically hired straight out of law school under the Cravath System and compensated in lockstep using the Cravath Scale, Biglaw associates work tirelessly to prove themselves worthy of partnership over roughly eight or more years. Biglaw tends to have an up-or-out culture (if not outright policy), where the majority of attorneys will either make partner or eventually transition elsewhere. To accelerate your legal career to the point of becoming a law firm partner, there’s no doubt it takes a lot of hard work.

Making partner is a drastic change from the rank of associate. There is a newfound literal, legal, and personal sense of ownership for your work, which will now require new business development, supervisory responsibilities, and client relationship management. From bringing in potential clients to consistently delivering on those client expectations, there’s a reason making partner is so celebrated in the legal industry: it’s not easy to do.

While Biglaw associate salaries are nothing to scoff at, partners unlock a new level of earning potential since they share in the firm’s profits. Some firms will internally distinguish between equity and non-equity partnership, where non-equity partners gradually take on partner responsibilities but do not share in the profits quite yet. Some argue that non-equity partners are glorified senior associates, but the reality of non-equity partnership will vary between firms.

Understanding how to strategically pursue partnership will benefit anyone in the legal profession, even if the goal is not specifically partnership at a large law firm. Because of the up-or-out culture, excelling as an associate means increased job security, predictable raises, greater professional development, and a stronger network both within and without.

Even those who plan on exiting Biglaw in a timely fashion should aim to be the best partnership-bound associate possible since one’s reputation and professional skillset will be carried wherever one goes, especially if you’re working at top law firms. If law firm partnership or being named as a senior partner are your goals, you need to know how to get buy-in from others at the firm.

You need to get into Biglaw first

Adam Gropper, in his book Making Partner: The Essential Guide to Negotiating the Law School Path and Beyond states that the law firm career is essentially a career in sales. While making sales pitches to clients may be the most salient example, a strategic career in Biglaw will also include constant sales pitches as a law student interviewing with firms, as an associate working under partners, and eventually as a partner candidate to the entire firm partnership.

If you are uncomfortable with this idea, perhaps Biglaw is not your destined long-term career path. There are, of course, other reasons to pursue Biglaw, including prestige, paying off student loans, exit opportunities, intellectually stimulating work, and more.

After determining if Biglaw could be the path for you, getting the job becomes a necessary first step. Generally, the Cravath System dictates who gets hired into Biglaw. The abridged strategy is to attend a prestigious law school, attain the best grades possible, network, and dominate your on-campus interviews. While most Biglaw careers begin shortly out of law school, experienced attorneys can also lateral in and use their experience to land somewhere along the partnership track.

Becoming a star associate

David Maister coined the three archetypal roles within a professional service firm: grinders, minders, and finders.

Grinders tend to be new associates that are eager to please and will energetically work long hours on detail-oriented grunt work like research and document review.

Minders have greater market value than grinders, have substantive experience and expertise, and work to deliver on projects that keep clients happy.

Finders locate and acquire revenue-generating business that minders and grinders will work to deliver on. The associate life is one of the grinder and then the minder, all to become the finder (i.e., partner).

Some of the qualities of a star associate are quantifiable. Meeting and exceeding billable hour requirements is definitely one sign of a well-performing associate. Billable hours can signal a number of positive qualities: satisfying partners and clients with reliable work, revenue generated for the firm, the grinder’s mindset, and a general sense of presence and energy as a productive salaried associate.

While billable hours requirements may be helpful for staying the course on the lockstep associate pay scale, they are far from sufficient for attaining partnership (unless you bill such a ridiculous amount that the firm loses money by not retaining you). 

Partnership will also require a large set of soft skills, or as Gropper defines it, “personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.”

Gropper’s top soft skills in rank order of positive impact are:

1. Determine and satisfy partner preferences
2. Be rigorous
3. Manage workload effectively
4. Seek specific feedback and take action
5. Make others look good
6. Document performance results annually
7. Have a partner’s mindset
8. Secure an effective sponsor

Many of these soft skills blend in with each other. For example, effective communication with a partner about his or her preferences will lead to a more predictable workload and give insight into the partner’s mindset. Doing this can help an associate “manage upwards” for an improved work-life balance which in turn helps make a Biglaw career more sustainable. Rigorous work makes others look good and is more likely to satisfy a partner’s preferences.

A successful associate starts as the ideal grinder that incorporates these soft skills: be impressionable, eager, coachable, tireless, and a team player all while producing high-quality substantive work product. After a few years of experience as a grinder, the mid to senior associate (approximately fourth years and above) will continue to grind while also transitioning into minder responsibilities in preparation to stand out as a partner candidate.

Preparing for partnership: Minding your own business

Making partner ultimately hinges on whether or not you can sell yourself. You as an individual are a business that you are selling to the firm’s existing partnership, convincing them that including you will make the firm more profitable. Here, it becomes important to develop a track record of both excellent minding and finding. In addition to continuing to develop soft skills, a partner candidate should seek to become a valuable business asset by doing excellent substantive legal work and keeping others happy both inside and outside the firm.

Minders should deliver quality work and aim to be recognized for it. Meeting billable hours is a given, but what sets apart an associate preparing for partnership is that the billable hours are substantially collected on.

While associates’ productivity is measured by hours billed, partners’ productivity is measured by fees collected. (All billed hours can generate revenue, but poor quality or irrelevant work isn’t always charged to the client.) Ensuring that the work you do is ultimately contributing to bottom-line revenue and profit is crucial.

In addition, you want to be recognized for your substantive work and stand out where you can. Possible ways to accomplish this are: (1) taking on work unclaimed by others to become the go-to person on those matters, (2) developing and marketing a niche or even sub-niche expertise within an area of law, and (3) secondment opportunities with major existing clients of the firm to showcase your effective legal skills and business acumen.

Take continuing legal education (CLE) courses where you can. Becoming recognized as an expert in your practice area, and an exceptionally productive one at that, can only help your case for partnership.

Another important aspect of the ideal partner candidate is managing professional relationships. There are, of course, the client-related sales and service aspects. Any client-facing interaction should be treated with best efforts and because you are now closer to the top of the chain-of-command, promptness, accountability, and effective counseling become more salient qualities. A minder can shine, keeping clients happy and improving work efficiency, by being active with case staffing and billing processes.

Other external relationships such as visibly showcasing expertise to bar associations, attending industry events, joining industry-specific organizations, and generally being active in one’s community will be viewed favorably. In addition to external relationships, internal relationships will also be noticed. As an associate becomes more senior, leadership roles, supervision and coordination skills, making referrals for well-performing laterals, and mentoring young lawyers will all stand out as positive qualities to convince a firm that a partner candidate can generate profit.

Making the final step into partnership

Making partner requires approval from existing partners in the firm (typically a majority vote, but sometimes there are veto powers). The specific processes and criteria for the selection of new partners will differ from firm to firm, but Gropper suggests making your case both in writing and orally even if it is not required.

In writing, Gropper says to prepare “an extensive memorandum documenting all your years of service and all your accomplishments both statistically (hours billed and collected) and substantively (notable wins for various clients).” If the firm has a guide detailing specific criteria for partnership selection, this memorandum should address each criterion as specifically as possible. In addition, the memorandum should provide a summary of your business plan with goals and how you intend to generate new clients.

Like in sales, your written materials may be entirely overlooked, and some partners will only want to hear you sell yourself in the moment. The oral case should be similar to the written memorandum and serve as a narrative of your professional self, detailing your past contributions and professional aspirations looking forward.

Average age to make partner at a law firm

Since most first-year associates will have been hired straight out of law school and partnership consideration can start roughly after the eighth to tenth associate year, the average age of a law school graduate will be indicative of what the average age to make partner is.

The most common age to graduate law school is between 25 and 28 years old, so the average age to make partner probably falls somewhere around 35 to 38 years old. However, making partner is much more determined by profitability and personal characteristics rather than age (although being older could make breaking into Biglaw more difficult).

Important considerations for you to make partner

While partnership may start as early as an associate’s sixth year (usually as a non-equity partner like at Kirkland & Ellis), toiling away as an associate for any number of years does not guarantee partnership. Eligible senior associates will commonly have to try for partnership multiple years in a row.

Consider the size of the firm. If you are a solo practitioner, you’re immediately a partner! Small firms tend to have a less rigid procedure for partner selection but may care greatly about having an established book of business. Midlaw or barely-Biglaw firms could have a faster, but still structured and predictable path to partnership. The largest law firms will have plenty of senior associates to consider for partnership each year and there will be stiff competition for each year’s class.

Also consider the growth, stagnation, or decline of the law firm and its relevant practice areas. If a law firm is growing and expanding their business, there are going to be more partner positions to fill each year, either by promotion or laterals. A firm that is slowing down may not have the bandwidth or desire to take on new partners since that means more people looking to draw from the same pool of profits.

On the other hand, firms that struggle with departures and morale issues occasionally do promote new partners to retain top performers and to reinforce their associates’ expectations for an upwards career trajectory. 

The size and how well financially-leveraged your office is can affect the acceptable partner-to-associate ratio. If your practice group or even firm as a whole has taken on too many partners, even the best candidates must compete with firm economics. It isn’t unreasonable to say that making partner might mean you have to move to a different city’s office, move firms for the right opportunity, or even wait until a top-heavy senior partnership begins to retire.

Originally posted on How to Make Partner in Biglaw

Biglaw Investor - Personal finances for the aspiring millionaire lawyer

Stress is a reaction to pressures or threats that we face in life, often uncertainty, loss of control, or feeling overwhelmed. It should be no surprise that your occupation can be the source of immense stress, and law is no exception. Legal work can come with some unique causes of stress: difficult clients, billable requirements, intense workloads, competitive environments, and financial burdens just to name a few.

Learning how to deal with stress in general and the causes of stress that specifically affects lawyers can make legal work more enjoyable, sustainable, and fulfilling.

Lawyers are impacted by multiple kinds of stress

Not all stress is made equal. First, some light stress in manageable doses can do more good than harm. An example of good stress is the kind you feel when a deadline or exam is approaching. Good stress can serve as a motivator to be productive and temporarily increased cortisol levels can boost focus and performance.

Cortisol is the hormone that regulates your physiological stress response and can induce the “fight or flight” feeling that is often crucial for surviving and behaving under exceptional circumstances. Good stress is usually acute stress, or stress that occurs for short periods of time in response to a temporary situation.

However, in the legal profession, well-being often takes a back seat to billable hours. The more stressors added, and the more those become permanent stressors, the bigger the toll on your risk of burnout and overall mental health. Striving to real that work-life balance everyone talks about is often much harder in a law firm.

Chronic stress is long-term stress that occurs under prolonged pressure. More commonly than acute stress, chronic stress can be caused by both internal and external causes. Prolonged emotional states such as anxiety, frustration, or anger can cause chronic stress, but so can the outside world if you just can’t seem to catch a break.

Chronic stress that would otherwise be acute stress can arise from one’s job, relationships, illness, or a car’s persistent check engine light. One 14-hour workday to file a motion can be acute stress, but an accumulation of such stress, such as a 70-hour workweek or 250+ billable hour month can become chronic stress. Both internal and external causes can adversely affect each other, creating a cycle that causes even more stress. Work can make you anxious, but anxiety can also make work more difficult to manage.

Finally, there is traumatic stress, which is usually induced from life-threatening experiences paired with immense fear or helplessness. While traumatic stress (and PTSD which sometimes follow) is very serious, the probability that a civilian occupation will cause traumatic stress is rather low. Generally, the stress that accompanies a career in law (or a legal education) will either be a high volume of distinct acute stresses or chronic stress.

How stress affects a lawyer’s body and mind

Muscle tension is almost a common physical reflex to stress in order for the body to guard against pain. Muscle tension, particularly prolonged muscle tension, is related to migraines and are associated also with muscle tension in the shoulders, neck, and head.

Stress can also induce nose and lung constriction, affecting the respiratory system. As breathing becomes more difficult, the pipeline of oxygen becomes compromised making it harder to focus for extended periods, reducing sleep quality, and generating lethargy.

The cardiovascular system can also be affected by stress, leading to elevated heart rates and high blood pressure. Prolonged negative cardiovascular effects can increase the risk for heart attack and stroke. Stress can cause both over and under-eating. Bacteria in the gut can be affected by stress and can complicate mood regulation.

The bowels are often affected, reducing the efficiency of nutrient absorption, and hastening the speed at which food moves through the body. Furthermore, the nervous system, the reproductive system, and immune system can all be adversely affected by stress.

Psychologically and behaviorally, stress can cause a lot of change and damage. Not only will the physical effects in turn affect mood and behavior, but the negative changes in behavior will often lead to even more effects on the body. Appetite issues can cause anxiety, and substance abuse becomes a quicker solution than a well monitored diet. Restlessness can cause emotional flares of anger and reduce motivation and focus.

Chronic fatigue will often lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed. The need to escape from stress can lead to social withdrawal or cause someone to replace sleep and exercise with substances or escapism outlets.

Stress management techniques are very popular for supporting physical health and mental wellness when you work in the legal industry. Sometimes it might be hard to see distinct lines between your personal life and your professional one, but working to create those boundaries is important.

If you notice that your levels of stress are constantly rising, whether it’s due to general lawyer burnout or the ongoing impact of the pandemic, you might want to seek out stress management techniques. Similarly, there are lawyer assistance programs that help you work through stress from your law firm job. Remember that you’re not alone, whether you work in a small firm or in big law.

How legal work uniquely causes stress

Every occupation comes with its own unique ways to put pressure on an individual. Even from the inception of the legal career, college students undergo a very competitive process to get a high GPA and LSAT score for law school admissions. Not only do most law schools make students compete with each other for grades, but the job search process can also be very competitive one. Finally, even before practicing law, the massive student loans commonly incurred by law students can cause chronic stress in the background for decades, especially if starting salaries or career trajectory remains uncertain.

Practicing law is usually a service that involves interacting with people. Clients, judges, opposing counsels, witnesses, and partners all carry the potential to bring difficult and frustrating interactions to a lawyer’s work. Law is often high stakes and often affects large sums of money and real people’s lives. In criminal or family law, disturbing facts or evidence can arise, and a lawyer might find themselves situated too closely to the stress of their clients or the litigation itself.

Lawyers generally work long or unpredictable hours, even outside of Biglaw. Estimates show that lawyers as an aggregate average close to 50 hours worked per week and lose over three weeks each year to unplanned work. Additionally, because the law is constantly changing, lawyers can rarely feel comfortable with their knowledge base and ability to win cases or run deals.

Finally, lawyers often have to deal with the stereotypes or expectations placed on them by family, friends, or even strangers for being a lawyer. Lawyers are commonly called immoral or incompetent, despite many of these people seeking out free legal advice. Stress can arise from having to maintain personal and professional boundaries.

Specifically for Biglaw, the turnover rates are alarming, probably because the career is prone to high stress levels. Long hours are unavoidable, and work can be so unpredictable that it regularly encroaches on your sleep or personal plans. Vacations are rare and hardly guaranteed. The reward for good work is usually even more work. Many firms still have an up-or-out policy, and many enter Biglaw with an understanding that they will not be there for long.

Tips for lawyers trying to manage stress

There are ways to manage stress that are not even more harmful to the body (e.g., turning to functional alcoholism or binge-watching television).

Regular physical activity is one of the most recommended ways to counteract stress. Many of the physical responses to stress can be acted on by finding ways to loosen the muscles, get oxygen into the lungs, and improving sleep and appetite. Exercise can also create a time and space away from the stress-inducing work environment. Finding time to exercise regularly may be difficult but it is one of the more effective ways of dealing with both acute and chronic stress.

Relaxation techniques can be effective as well. Breathing exercises improve the body and meditation can help the mind. Even a short time in the sun or a mid-day power nap count as relaxation and can act as brief but healthy resets during a stressful day. As a warning, some forms of “relaxation” might actually have the opposite effect. Television, video games, social media, and “relaxing” substances can be harmful if done in high volume and often come with their own stress-causing consequences.

If you are dealing with severe chronic or traumatic stress, consider therapy. Because psychological disorder is not defined by a definite bright line, depressive tendencies or prolonged states of anxiety might be better dealt with by professional counseling or psychiatric treatment. “Soft” therapies such as spending time with loved ones, pets, or engaging in restorative hobbies (e.g., gardening, cooking, playing music, painting) can also be effective in combating stress.

Sometimes, you feel overwhelmed because you should be. If work is inevitably going to demand more out of you than you can handle, perhaps you will need to outsource your life. Home cleaners, laundry services, meal prep services, daycares, and nannies are just a few ways that both time and energy can be saved as opposed to doing it by yourself. 

Home gyms can reduce the commute to a commercial gym, and while expensive at first, can become a valuable long-term investment. Even one of these can free up the mental and physical bandwidth allowing you to sustainably manage the rest of your responsibilities and keep your earning power alive for longer.

Stress, since it can be caused internally, can also be mitigated internally. Consider gratitude exercises, meditation, journaling, or stoicism. Emotions and mood are not tangibly measured in the human body and are measured in the form of physiological responses, so while you can’t simply will away muscle tension, it is possible to chip away at anxiety or frustration by working on your mental wellness.

Finally, for those in Biglaw, consider if law, your employer, or your particular line of work is causing you too much stress. It’s okay to realize that you don’t want to be a full-on lawyer who deals with the court system or billion-dollar corporate transactions. Maybe you aren’t really a people-person (or conversely feel starved of human contact in your niche hyper-technical transactional practice) and want to switch practice areas or do your work at a larger or smaller scale. 

Perhaps your firm’s culture, the pace of work at your office, or even one particularly stress-inducing partner are stressful in ways that you expect another environment would not be. Talk to a recruiter if you think that might be the case.

Originally posted on Lawyer Stress: It’s Not Just You; How to Beat It

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Many people quit Biglaw for many different reasons. Some even call it a feature of the occupation rather than a bug. Here at Biglaw Investor, it wouldn’t be a surprise for someone to plan their exit even before they begin. Whether you’re about to quit Biglaw or looking to stay informed in case the decision arises, you want to be informed and start to plan ahead. For those considering entering Biglaw, understanding common exit reasons and strategies can be a great way to better understand your career choice.

Why do people quit Biglaw?

Biglaw is extremely competitive to get into. Most Biglaw attorneys came out of top schools (like the T14 law schools), with stellar grades, and competed with a tough crowd of law students for these Biglaw positions. Biglaw pays well and takes so much work to break into, so why do so many people quit?

For many, the reality of working in a biglaw firm with biglaw associates becomes overwhelming or unbearable over time. Trying to get to the role of senior associate, midlevel or junior associate, or partner from your new biglaw job can seem like there’s a long road ahead.

One Biglaw partner told me when I was a fresh 1L that roughly 90% of first years are gone by their fifth year! Let’s explore the three main reasons for why people leave Biglaw. Chances are that some blend of all three reasons will be present for anyone who quits Biglaw, regardless of their practice area. Leaving biglaw can be challenging, but it might also be the right move for your mental health. Too many long hours is hard for lots of people in the legal profession.

1. It’s too much work. Many complaints about Biglaw will boil down to this. Billable requirements, vacation days, work-life balance, stress and burnout, salary-per-hour-worked, etc. all can be eliminated if Biglaw did not regularly require workweeks in excess of 60 hours/week. Of course, this is why they pay you the big bucks. However, this kind of career is not the kind that most people can or want to spend 30 years doing. Workload also gets in the way of competing interests such as family or hobbies. If you’re struggling with too many billable hours and can’t see keeping up with this for the rest of your legal career, you might be thinking about leaving biglaw. If you’re feeling the urge to dropout because of the work product, you aren’t the first person to feel that way.

2. You took advantage of Biglaw’s financial opportunities. Many people are not interested in Biglaw for the actual substantive work. Because massive law school student loans are so prevalent, spending a few years in Biglaw to quickly pay off student loans can be the financially responsible decision. Even if loans are not an issue or your student loans have already been obliterated, the earning power provided by Biglaw is not going to be easily found elsewhere. If a high income is part of your short-term savings plan, every year spent in Biglaw becomes a unique opportunity to advance your savings or retirement at an incredible rate. In any event, if you had financial goals and Biglaw helped you accomplish it, it might be a good time to move on. Even though biglaw might have boosted your net worth, you may be thinking about starting your own firm or leaving the legal industry.

3. You want to do something else with your legal education. Maybe you thought Biglaw would present stimulating work. Perhaps you never really wanted to do Biglaw when you graduated, but the option was there, and you took it. In any event, Biglaw is known to keep the doors open and to provide excellent exit opportunities. For the younger law school graduates that went K-JD, Biglaw can be a great place to park your career decisions in the short run. However, once you have a better idea of where you might want to take your career, it could be a sign to leave Biglaw behind.

You have plenty of exit options leaving a Biglaw firm

Biglaw keeps doors open. There are a myriad of alternative career options for Biglaw attorneys, and traversing sectors or industries is usually not an issue. Whether you start to see the end of the Biglaw road or not, exploring exit options should be something you do at all times.

Actively, you can try to research and learn more about other kinds of careers. Networking should be second nature by now, so if you want to receive first-hand experience from people in other careers, reach out to them! There will be many ex-Biglaw attorneys floating around the professional world for you to talk to. Passively, you are constantly exposed to other careers throughout your work.

You will have exposure to clients operating their businesses, the in-house counsel of those clients, opposing counsel who are not Biglaw attorneys, judges and clerks, and many other kinds of careers that cross your path regularly as a Biglaw attorney. Take advantage of these engagements and absorb information about exit options.

Here are some ideas to get you started, but your exit options are really only limited by your imagination:

• Jumping to a mid-sized or small firm
• Solo practitioner 
• Real estate broker
• Investment banking or private equity
• Human resources and recruiting
• Management at a corporation
• In-house counsel
• Writing and journalism
• Teaching
• Term or career clerking
• Entrepreneur
• Politics
• Compliance
• Alternative dispute resolution (e.g., mediator)
• Trust administrator
• Union representative
• Career services director
• Law librarian
• More education
• Early retiree

Planning to escape Biglaw law firms

Because Biglaw is going to come with a lifestyle and salary that won’t be matched by most other careers, you’ll have to prepare in advance to have a smooth exit.

First, do you have your next job lined up? Sometimes, exiting Biglaw needs the urgency of a fire drill, but most exits should be done strategically with your next step in mind. It’s easiest to leave any employer when you have a job offer waiting for you on the other side.

You’ll want to have a handle on your finances. Do you have remaining debt that still requires large sums of regular payments? Have a plan to make the necessary payments while you switch jobs or reduce your income. Has your lifestyle inflated, and you feel the constraints of golden handcuffs? What if you’re moving from a dual-income household to single? The inertia of high spending as a Biglaw attorney can be very difficult to fight, but chances are that your lifestyle will need some sort of adjustment if you quit Biglaw.

How is your mental and physical health? Quitting Biglaw is one thing but switching jobs can be an arduous project on its own that is taxing on the mind and body. If you recognize that you aren’t in a good spot overall, perhaps a therapist or medical leave can benefit you while you’re still in Biglaw. Even if you do switch careers right now, mental and physical well-being should always be a forefront concern.

Some people’s identities are wrapped up too closely to their work. Not only is there the internal locus of identity, where your self-worth and sense of achievement only come from your career, but you may be concerned with how people view you in light of your exit.

Should you care about what others think? Maybe, but probably not. So many people leave Biglaw anyway, that if someone is judging you for wanting to quit, chances are that it is not an informed opinion. Even Biglaw understands that many people leave, and associates are considered “successful” alumni of the firm if they are placed elsewhere in a way that benefits the firm (e.g., in-house counsel at a major client).

Is quitting Biglaw the wrong decision?

It’s one thing to think about quitting, it’s another thing to actually pull the trigger and pack up your office belongings. First, if you have cold feet about quitting, make sure you actually want to quit. Biglaw comes with its ebbs and flows like any other career, and you might just find yourself in a brief period of greater-than-average misery. Some issues might be under your control. Are your motivations to leave temporary and for how long will they continue? Consider if switching firms could resolve the underlying issues. Talk to a recruiter if you think that lateraling could be the solution.

On the other hand, you don’t need to fear quitting Biglaw quite so much. It is not a permanent decision that can never be reversed. Getting into Biglaw is never guaranteed, but plenty of lawyers will leave Biglaw and return after a few years.

Sure, you won’t progress class years during your time away from Biglaw (and maybe even go down a few if you return), but if you have a compelling reason such as taking care of your parents or wanting to be more present for your infant children, career progress is not the worst price to pay.

If you decide that leaving right now is the best decision but want to keep the door to returning open, then don’t burn any bridges on your way out. Maintain your existing network and explore your options while knowing that a Biglaw revival remains possible.

Originally posted on Quit Biglaw: Develop a Plan to Exit

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Biglaw is generally considered to be an elite post-graduate employment outcome. Firms will fill the majority of their first-year associate positions by using on-campus interviews and turning summer associates into full-time associates at the end of the summer. When law students pursue a summer position in Biglaw, it is usually in hopes of returning with a post-graduate job offer.

Biglaw firms summer associate positions normally have close to a 100% return offer rate. Summer associates can virtually expect a return offer at the end of their summer program barring exceptional circumstances. When law firms have reasons to slow their hiring, often due to financial woes, those return offer rates can temporarily drop industry wide. Some examples include the early 1990s recession, the Great Recession, and initial hiring panics due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, some law firms appear to be sporadically correcting a potential over-hiring of this year’s summer associate class.

What is a cold offer?

Cold offers (sometimes called a soft offer) are when a summer associate is not given a return offer but is allowed to tell other potential employers that they did receive one. When you get tot the last week of the summer with no offer or phone call indicating you’ll get one soon, it’s natural that you might panic. Officially, the summer associate might be counted as someone with a return offer but there will be a mutual understanding that there is no real invitation to come back the following year. These are often used when personnel cuts need to be made, but firms still want to maintain their return offer rates and public image.

The difference between a “cold offer” and “no offer”

Statistics of return offer rates are constantly under scrutiny by the legal industry. If summer classes get rolled over into full-time associates classes at or near a 100% rate, then the firm can keep up with its competitors as a desirable place to work with a healthy and fully functional hiring pipeline from law school to practice.

If the return offer rate falters, then students will hesitate to pursue summer positions at that firm because the certainty of a job after graduation is very important to job-seeking law students. Current law students want to see more data from the last year to make their own informed decisions; firms not extending tons of offers to their summer associates in clerkship is seen as a big red flag. This can be an indication of the firm’s culture that leads people to look elsewhere for summer clerkships.

Although no offers do happen even in healthy economies, they are usually because of truly exceptional circumstances. Although a firm is under no obligation to give return offers to its summer associates, at least in Biglaw, a summer position tends to be non-competitive with an environment akin to “it’s yours to lose” and “you already have the job.”

Summer programs in Biglaw are not like tryouts where the weaker performers are at risk of getting cut. Rather no offers are more like actually getting fired or laid off from the job. Thus, a no offer (absent financial woes) tends to indicate individual issues with the summer associate that the firm is unwilling to overlook.

However, cold offers can be utilized if a firm wants to protect its reputation as a 99% or 100% return offer employer. While it is technically possible for a summer associate to accept a cold offer (it is an official offer after all), the firm’s stance is that returning will not lead to gainful employment. Accepting a cold offer may lead to receiving little work, missing billable requirements, and quickly being let go. Cold offers work to avoid mutual destruction so that the firm can protect its reputation while the recipient is not harmed by having to explain a no offer to other potential employers.

When do cold offers occur?

Cold offers are generally handed out for one of few reasons. Typically, multiple reasons will be present at once. Some of the reasons are because of the summer associate, while others are from the firm’s end and entirely out of the summer associate’s control.

Unproductive summer. While summer associates are expected to be of next to no productive value for a firm during the summer program, it is in fact possible to be so worthless to a firm to not be wanted back. Blowing deadlines, excessive absences, or sloppy work (to the point it shows you don’t care at all) can all contribute to an excessively questionable work ethic. Biglaw does not expect profit or even high-quality substantive work out of their summer associates, but there should be genuine effort, some light in the eyes, and an actual presence felt.

Poor social skills or lack of professionalism. The interview process can occasionally fail to screen for those utterly lacking in social skills. Most lawyers provide a service that requires interacting with people both inside and outside the firm, so if you are unable to put together a decent conversation, the firm may see you as a mistaken hire.

Related are those who exhibit an utter lack of professionalism. Often, the cause involves alcohol or offensive remarks/behavior. A lack of self-control, racism, sexual harassment, homophobia, stealing, poor ethics, or insulting others can fall into this category of behavior.

Financial woes. Because law firms are a professional service, attorneys are the most expensive asset. Everybody knows that Biglaw pays fantastic salaries, but sometimes a firm, an office, or even a specific practice group might not have the budget to take on more attorneys. Some firms hire summer associates with a specific practice in mind, and financial woes could end up being the luck of the draw for who needs to be cut from which practice groups.

Other firms give out return offers without planning for who will end up where, sometimes placing junior associates in rotational programs for one or two years before declaring a practice group. In those firms, summer associates may need to compete with their own class for limited return offers. In any event, if firm economics are hurting, summer associates may find themselves needing to exhibit higher levels of productivity and likability to secure a return offer.

The firm made a mistake. Financial woes aside, it’s entirely possible that the firm simply hired too many summer associates or has changed their recruiting strategy moving forward. It’s also possible that either the firm or the summer associate’s goals have changed and there is an understanding that the postgraduate opportunity is no longer mutually beneficial. The Biglaw talent acquisition model is not foolproof, and if it becomes clear early on that a return offer would be declined or less than optimal, a cold offer could save the headaches of managing an acceptance window or other administrative tasks attached to handing out return offers.

So you got a cold offer…

Receiving a cold offer at the end of a summer program can be frustrating, disappointing, and confusing. If you’re wondering as to why you received a cold offer, the answers may not always be clear. Some of the reasons listed above might be present, but it’s not an objective threshold test, and discretion had to be employed somewhere by someone in arriving at a cold offer. There will usually have been some bad luck as well.

Understandably, you may feel angry or defrauded. But don’t take to social media to lament your woes. Wait to update your LinkedIn, too, since all hope is not yet lost. The National Association for Law Placement even calls the practice of cold offers “unethical,” “fraudulent,” and “unprofessional.” If you hear about cold offers happening in multiple firms, there is probably an economic influence on Biglaw as a whole.

If you hear about other summer associates from your firm’s summer class getting cold offers, your firm may be struggling in its own way. It’s always totally possible it has something to do with you as an individual or your fit with the office.

While it’s never fun to jump back into job searching, that’s what you’ll have to do. You can tell potential employers that your previous firm wasn’t a good fit and that you decided to scope out other opportunities instead. You will still have the brand name and work experience of the firm on your resume. A cold offer is a setback but does not extinguish your prospects of working in Biglaw.

Originally posted on Cold Offers: What They’re Like and How to Avoid Them

Biglaw Investor - Personal finances for the aspiring millionaire lawyer

With the long hours, complex work, and high-stakes environment, Biglaw attorneys are constantly under immense pressure. It is no surprise that Biglaw as an occupation is at a high risk of burning out. In Bloomberg Law’s Attorney Workload and Hours survey, respondents reported a record high of feeling burnout 52% of the time.

Burnout can become an occupational hazard but can also affect other areas of life if it isn’t contained. Industry-wide solutions to burnout may not be feasible in the near future, but individuals can take action to prevent or mitigate burnout.

Psychologists Christina Maslach and Michael Leiter have found that “burnout is a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job. Three key dimensions of this response are an overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, and a sense of ineffectiveness or lack of accomplishment.”

Law firms sell a service and pleasing the client is a top priority. Other service industries that involve a heavy workload (e.g., healthcare) are particularly susceptible to burnout as well. If you’re stressed, exhausted, and want to prevent or mitigate burnout arising out of your Biglaw career, read on.

How to know if you have burnout

Many lawyers struggle with work-life balance issues in the legal profession. Biglaw firms often place a lot of pressure on the hours logged to generate revenue for the firm, but this can take a toll on mental health.

Maybe you already experienced burnout in law school or perhaps the pandemic accelerated your lawyer burnout. If you’re concerned about burnout impacting your legal career.

Most of the time, burnout is a feeling that you just know when you have it. However, because burnout can have an overlap in appearance with other psychological or physiological responses such as ordinary physical exhaustion or depression, it becomes helpful to be aware of the signs of burnout.

Exhaustion: Even if lawyers are reading and writing from their offices for the majority of their work, chronic stress can manifest physically. Stress can cause actual pain all throughout the body, particularly stomach aches or headaches. Stress can also change behavior for the worse—your appetite might disappear and you may not sleep well. These physical responses can build up and cause you to feel lethargic, unrested, or even ill for weeks or months on end. 

Lack Ability to Manage Workload: Burnout can cause one to lose the forest for the trees or mis-prioritize urgent vs. important tasks. Legal practice is a complex occupation, but a lawyer experiencing burnout could start to see every aspect of the work as mundane or tedious.  Facing a mountain of these tedious tasks will only add to the stress of the job while killing the desire to actually get it done.

Withdrawal or Demotivation: As Maslach and Leiter state, cynicism and detachment can make an attorney feel like their work makes no difference, has no meaning, or is just plain uninteresting. If an attorney feels ineffective (and if you’re already burnt out then you might actually be less effective), there will be even less motivation to work. The belief that there has been little accomplishment thus far or little to gain in the future can quickly make an attorney lose identity and second-guess their career path.

What causes burnout?

According to Maslach and Leiter, there are six key causes of burnout. Each of these are highly likely to be present in any Biglaw career. Whether you’re a new biglaw associate or mid-level in your firm, health and wellness can take a backseat for anyone with a law degree. Trying to find better work-life balance is not always easy, even as you get more experience in the legal field.

1.     Workload

“Work overload contributes to burnout by depleting the capacity of people to meet the demands of the job.” A manageable workload, on the other hand, allows for both new and existing skills to improve, for professional autonomy to be exercised, and for rest, recovery, and restoration. Lawyers not only work long hours, but they work at almost any time of the day or week.

Work volatility can also contribute to work overload because time spent anticipating work is time spent unable to rest or relax. A higher workload can reach even the point of reduced productivity, which is in and of itself demotivating. Even the messaging that many young lawyers receive is focused around “paying their dues” and “earning their keep” in biglaw.

2.     Control

Job engagement is heavily decreased when an employee can no longer influence decisions, exercise autonomy, or gain resources necessary to doing a job. Because lawyers are constantly trying to please their clients and partners, some may feel that there is little control in their work. Billable hours can be soul-crushing and the abundance of monotonous tasks can also feel like a loss of control.

As Cal Newport frequently speaks out against, a work culture that subjects employees to constantly pay attention to emails and chats not only decreases productivity, but also causes anxiety. An overly intense and volatile workload will cause a lawyer to feel like they are losing control over other areas of life as well.

3.     Reward

“Reward” refers to the power of reinforcements to shape behavior. While Biglaw attorneys are compensated handsomely per the Cravath Scale, reward does not always have to be financial. Perhaps the work is not found to be meaningful enough, or there is not enough social reward going around. Good work in Biglaw is rewarded with even more work, which is often more of a punishment!

The lack of intermediary promotions between associate and partner may also induce a feeling of insufficient reward. “Consistency in the reward dimension between the person and the job means that there are both material rewards and opportunities for intrinsic satisfaction.”

4.     Community

There is a greater risk of burnout when work relationships are “characterized by a lack of support and trust, and by unresolved conflict.” Although most law firms will boast their “collegial” or “work-hard-play-hard” cultures, Biglaw will always have competition both internally and externally. The process for entry, the Cravath System, is riddled with competition to begin with so it will be difficult to shake that culture.

Litigation comes with an adversarial flavor, and even transactional law will always have someone on the other side who is trying to maximize their wins. Some practices can feel incredibly isolating, while others might treat associates as dispensable and fungible.

5.     Fairness

Related to community is fairness, which is tied to feelings of appropriate respect.  Biglaw is not only going to have winners and losers (again, both internally and externally), but there can be plenty of moments to feel inequity. A task might be dumped on you on Friday at 4 p.m. because it had to go to somebody. This week could be you and the next week your coworker, but each instance appears to be unfair.

Favoritism can be demotivating if an associate does not get enough attention from partners and therefore sees themselves as lower on the social hierarchy. If a mistake happens, where to put the blame can be a difficult dance. The senior should take ultimate ownership, but it’s easier to point to the junior who could have prevented the problem by communicating up. Such situations can trigger fairness issues that breed cynicism and hostility.

6.     Values

Values relate to the lawyer’s goals and expectations. Values are what attract someone to Biglaw in the first place (e.g., money, prestige, interesting work) but if the motivating connection is compromised, or if an individual is disconnected from the organization’s values, the lawyer can find themselves in constant dissonance between the work they have to do and the work they want to do. Such a dissonance hastens the coming of burnout.

How to handle burnout

While organizational change is possible, and some workplaces are investing a lot of capital into the well-being of their employees, Biglaw can only change so much in the near future. The return on investment will be highest for a lawyer to focus on what they can do on an individual level to prevent or mitigate burnout.

One common strategy is to find a way to manage the workload. Reducing workload can not only lead to rest and recovery, but the extra time allows for the lawyer to assess and plan well-being moving forward. Rest vs. vacation should not be mixed up.

Rest is physical and mental, and usually does not take more than a week or two to fully rest up. Even in short bursts, a midday nap or working to improve your sleep quality can go a long way. A vacation can be longer, but it can also be very short. What an effective vacation does is engage the person in a way they don’t normally.

Novel experiences are one way to do so, but just as effective are picking up new hobbies, learning about new ideas, and spending time with new people. Unlike rest, which focuses on inactivity, a vacation is about how you channel your activity. In Biglaw, rest, vacations and setting workload boundaries may be difficult to navigate.

Perhaps you’ll have to sacrifice bonuses or have a tough conversation with an assigning partner. However, burnout is a serious issue that, if left untreated, can be very harmful to your career.

Another way to handle burnout is to develop coping skills. One method includes conflict resolution and cognitive restructuring. Conflict resolution can reduce the number of issues arising out of control or fairness factors. Cognitive restructuring (replacing stress-producing thoughts with balanced thoughts) can result in a healthier perspective.

Perhaps your perspective of reality was not truly accurate and caused unnecessary stress. Time management is another coping strategy. Again, Biglaw may not permit every kind of method due to the way the work is structured. However, consider blocking off time for uninterrupted work, family, or fitness.

Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs Jim Donovan would protect a sliver of control over his day by always ensuring that he got his 30-minute run every day without exception. Even if the other 23.5 hours of his day was dictated by work, he would never fully lose control and have a brief moment to return to his own world and reset.

Social support is yet another strategy for combating burnout. Encouragement can go a long way and having others to simply be there for you might prevent you from fully burning out. If you have family or friends that can briefly assist with preparing meals, running errands, or maybe watching your kids while you take a few days’ breather to gather yourself, the long run can feel more sustainable. For those who are intimately tied up in your day-to-day life, healthy communication about everyone’s needs and sacrifices can reduce unnecessary uncertainty, and in turn, unnecessary anxiety.

Beyond the physical, the mental and spiritual can have a huge influence. Maslach and Leiter state that “developing a better self-understanding via various self-analytic techniques, counseling, or therapy” is a common recommendation for preventing burnout. A lot of turbulence in life can originate from within.

If your mind and heart is in a disorderly state, it will be next to impossible to make order of the outside world. Meditation, even as a 10-minute daily habit, can help to calm nerves and stay present instead of constantly worrying about the past or future. Therapy can be a great way to receive a practical third-person perspective and a professional diagnosis. Maybe burnout isn’t the true issue and is instead a symptom of something else.

Consider switching firms or careers

Your firm doesn’t have to be the right fit for you. Biglaw doesn’t have to be the right career for you. If your environment is accelerating the causes of burnout, a change in scenery could be the best solution at hand.

If you think that your firm is not the right fit for you, reflect on why that might be so. Is the culture different from what you imagine yourself thriving in? The big picture of Biglaw is that firms are more alike than they are different, but differences do exist. If you think that a firm’s current state will throttle your professional development, that sounds like one reason to enter a rut and invite the causes of burnout.

If you want more advancement options, contact a recruiter and design an exit strategy. Maybe your practice area is killing you from the inside and you want to explore alternatives that are more stimulating to you. If the firm is unwilling to let you make changes as an insider, contact a recruiter and design an exit strategy.

This applies to a myriad of reasons for why someone might want to lateral. Other common reasons include: a lack of client contact or business development, a firm is too big or too small for your preferences, you are not getting enough new work and toiling away at the same dispute for the past four years, you want to change cities, or you think you might enjoy working with people at a different firm.

If you think the causes of burnout are more about Biglaw than any specific firm environment, consider alternative careers for lawyers. After all, one of Biglaw’s attractive points is the ability to access fantastic exit opportunities.

Biglaw still considers their alumni “successes” if they place in clients or potential clients’ in-house positions. Have you always wanted to try public interest work? Burnout might be the sign that it’s time. Consider a term clerkship if you have any interest.

A lawyer with Biglaw experience comes with few closed doors. It’s also not impossible to return to Biglaw after a stint elsewhere, so you don’t need to worry that you’re closing out Biglaw for good.

Ultimately, burnout in Biglaw is simply not worth it. You aren’t “making sacrifices” to avoid burnout, burnout is the worst place to be. Not only will you be miserable and lifeless, but you’ll also find little meaning in the work when your effectiveness and productivity are at rock bottom.

Sometimes you can attack burnout by changing your behavior or setting new boundaries. Sometimes the solution will require you to call a recruiter to lateral or look outside the Biglaw job sector entirely.

Originally posted on Biglaw Burnout: What You Need to Know

Biglaw Investor - Personal finances for the aspiring millionaire lawyer

However, not a lot of people know that once you’ve made regular on-time payments towards your student loans for twenty years, your chances of getting the rest of that debt forgiven are actually quite good. In fact, you could probably get your loans discharged today if you qualify for a loan forgiveness program.

Student loan forgiveness is a process of having your student loan debt forgiven or discharged so that the financial burden of the loan will be taken from the borrower. Most federal student loans automatically qualify for loan forgiveness under special circumstances. Most students that have student loan debt can choose to enter a PSLF program or set up an income-driven repayment plan to ease their financial burden.

After twenty years of making regular on-time payments, it becomes much easier to have the rest of your student loan debt forgiven through one of these programs. If you’re a lawyer that graduated from law school twenty years ago and want to have your remaining student loan discharged, read on!

In this guide, we’ll be looking at how you can get your student loans forgiven after twenty years, what programs are out there for student loan forgiveness, and how income-driven repayment plans can help.

How to get student loan forgiveness after 20 years

The main way to get student loan forgiveness after twenty years of making regular payments is through a student loan forgiveness program. The three main forgiveness programs that borrowers tend to work with are the REPAYE plan, the PAYE plan, and the IBR plan. Let’s take a look.

REPAYE Plan

This plan is known as the Revised Pay as You Earn plan. With this repayment plan, you only have to pay back 10% of your discretionary income towards your student loans.

Unlike PAYE (which we’ll get into next) the REPAYE plan has an interest subsidy and usually takes five years longer to receive student loan forgiveness. So technically, REPAYE is a twenty-five-year repayment plan. You can qualify for this program if you have Stafford, Direct Subsidized, Unsubsidized, or PLUS loans. Private loans and loans that are in default from non-payment are not eligible for this plan. Perkins loans are also not eligible.

Federal Family Education Loans can be repaid under this program.

If you are enduring financial hardship and your ten-year standard repayment plan’s loans are larger than the monthly amount you are able to pay, you will likely qualify for REPAYE.

This is a great plan for borrowers because it is open to virtually anyone who borrowed money from the Direct Loan program. It doesn’t really matter when that money was borrowed or how much was taken, as long as it was through a loan program that qualifies. Participation in this program also keeps borrowers eligible for the PSLF program, which can shorten your payment terms down to ten years.

PAYE Plan

This plan is known as the Pay as You Earn plan. With this repayment plan, you only have to pay back 10% of your discretionary income towards your student loans.

This income-based repayment program provides total student loan forgiveness after about twenty years. You can qualify for this program if you have Stafford, Direct Subsidized, Unsubsidized, or PLUS loans. Private loans and loans that are in default from non-payment are not eligible for this plan. Perkins loans are also not eligible.

Federal Family Education Loans cannot be repaid under this program.

If you are enduring financial hardship and your ten-year standard repayment plan’s loans are larger than the monthly amount you are able to pay, then you will likely qualify for PAYE.

This is an ideal plan for borrowers because the government will pay the unpaid accrued interest on your qualifying subsidized Stafford loan for three years from when you are accepted into PAYE. Even when that interest does capitalize, it is limited to only 10% of your original balance.

IBR Plan

This student loan forgiveness plan is only for loans that were taken out after July 1st, 2014.

Income-based repayment (IBR) plans are very widely available income-driven student loan plans for federal loans. Such a plan can help borrowers keep their loan payments in an affordable range with payment caps that are based on their specific income and size of their family. This plan also makes it possible to erase any remaining debt after twenty-five years of on-time payments.

Anyone who has borrowed either Direct or FFEL federal student loans can be eligible for this plan. However, student loans made to parents do not qualify. You’ll need to have enough debt that is relative to your income in order to get a reduced payment.

IBR uses a sliding scale in order to decide how much one can afford to pay on their federal student loans. For borrowers who earn under 150% of the poverty level for their specific family size, loan payments will be waived. If a borrower earns more than that, their loan payment will cap at 15% of what they earn about that specific amount. For example, a single person who earns less than $17,655 in a mainland state will have their payments waived under an IBR plan.

How to get forgiveness in 10 years

If you’re about ten years into your student loan payments, you have options too. After paying one’s student loans on-time for about ten years, some graduates can take advantage of the PSLF plan.

What is the PSLF plan?

Public Service Loan Forgiveness or PSLF is a federal program designed to help student loan borrowers get some relief from their loan burdens after ten years.

This program forgives the total remaining balance on a borrower’s federal direct loans after they have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a public service employer.

To qualify for this loan, you must work for a U.S. government organization or a non-profit organization full-time. You must also have direct loans or other federal loans that have been consolidated into a direct loan. You must have made 120 payments towards your loans via an income-driven repayment plan. It is also required that applicants send an employment certification form every year or when switching employers to ensure you are still eligible. Typically, borrowers who work for labor unions, partisan political organizations, and for-profit organizations.

What’s going on with the PSLF program?

You may have seen a lot on the news about the PSLF program in the past few years or so. Unfortunately, many borrowers have had a rough time with the program.

PSLF as a program started in 2007 and the first borrowers became eligible for loan forgiveness around 2017. However, many of these borrowers found out that they had been misinformed about the actual requirements for the program. Some applicants had their applications denied because they were on the wrong repayment plan. Eligible students have to be on an income-driven plan rather than extended repayment plans.

Many borrowers also didn’t know that they needed to submit an Employment Certification Form every year in order to stay eligible for the program. An authorized official would have to verify the signatures on the Employment Certification Form every year in order to approve the loan forgiveness.

It was a nightmare. According to the Department of Education, around 41,000 student loan borrowers chose to apply for PSLF, but only a mere 206 actually received forgiveness after ten years.

These issues were rectified by the Department of Education. In early 2018, the board introduced a Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF). This program put away around $350,000,000 for borrowers who had accidentally been on the wrong repayment plan.

It’s likely that the requirements for the PSLF will become clearer in the future after this fiasco, but make sure you read the fine print before you apply for this program.

Even though the PSLF makes borrowers jump through a lot of hoops in order to qualify for student loan forgiveness, it offers an alternative to debt relief that doesn’t take twenty years. Unfortunately, it is believed that this program may be done for in the future. Donald Trump has repeatedly proposed eliminating the PSLF program altogether and for the 2020 budget proposal, borrowers who borrow a new student loan on July 1st, 2020 or after will not be able to use the PSLF. Those who are already eligible will be grandfathered into the PSLF under the current proposal.

According to Clint Proctor from Student Loan Planner, this bid to end the PSLF could also cause some major life changes for certain loan borrowers. “In cutting this type of student loan forgiveness,” said Proctor in a writeup for Student Loan Planner, “A ton of overhead would potentially be eliminated, as the Department of Education would no longer have to deal with the headache of verifying employment data from PSLF applicants for 10 years. This repeal would not affect borrowers currently eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The PSLF program is explicitly listed as an option in your promissory note if you are an existing borrower. President Trump’s plan would affect borrowers who have not yet taken out student loans.”

A lot of this is still up in the air, but if you’ve already taken out a student loan, you won’t have to worry about not even being able to try for the PSLF.

Tax consequences of student loan forgiveness

There may be some tax consequences for using one of these programs, but that absolutely should not deter you from seeing if you qualify.

Some student loan forgiveness options have tax consequences while others do not. Student loan forgiveness under the PSLF has no tax consequences. As per the IRS, you might be required to pay income tax on the amount that is forgiven for other student loan forgiveness federal programs.

The amount of the student loan that was forgiven is added to the borrower’s taxable income for the entire year. For example, if you had around $10,000 in student loan debt forgiven through a federal repayment plan, it would be considered $10,000 worth of income. Outside of that, your actual income for the year from working is around $100,000. Your new taxable income for the year is now $110,000 and depending on your deductions and exemptions, you’ll probably have to owe quite a bit more money come tax season. It’s worth noting that while this isn’t ideal, it’s usually still cheaper than having to pay the original $10,000 plus accrued interest. You can also work out a payment plan with the IRS if necessary to help ease the burden of paying more in taxes.

As we stated earlier, the PSLF has no tax consequences and you can receive student loan forgiveness without owing taxes. If you’re not financially able to deal with having a loan thrown on top of your income for the year, it would be wise to look into the PSLF program first.

Student loan forgiveness may seem like a complex process, but it really isn’t. Most student loan borrowers just need to do their research and may find the right forgiveness solution quickly. At Biglaw Investor, we understand that many law students and practicing lawyers stress out about student loans, especially as the interest piles up. That’s why we’re so passionate about providing the right information for student loan forgiveness, investing, retiring, and getting into great financial condition.

Originally posted on Student Loan Forgiveness After 20 Years

Biglaw Investor - Personal finances for the aspiring millionaire lawyer