Being a lawyer sounds like a dream job on its face. However, like everything everywhere, all at once, there is more than one side to the story. I have been a lawyer for over 20 years and am a happy-at-work-as-a-lawyer lawyer. This was not always so. At one time in my life, I worked for a firm, and within that firm, for a partner who was, at best, difficult. I quit law, or perhaps you could say I took a sabbatical from law practice and enlisted in the US Army infantry, heading off to basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. This sabbatical was before 9/11 and a function of my personal experience as an associate living through and in all of the myriad issues that many a lawyer, solo, partner, or associate experiences, detailed below.
At the time, I went on my journey of self-discovery. Upon reflection, as the firm I helped start has grown, I decided to look more deeply into why most lawyers quit or leave the practice of law to discover whether these are ubiquitous and common. Not surprisingly, it turns out that lawyers quit practicing law for many of the same reasons I decided to go stab practice dummies with a bayonet.
Reasons Lawyers Quit
1. Stress and Burnout:
The first and foremost repeatedly cited reason for departure from the legal profession stems from something that afflicts many professionals performing at a high level in complex fields; according to the American Psychological Association, the legal profession is notoriously demanding, with long hours, high stakes cases, and client pressures often leading to chronic stress and burnout.
Legal decisions can profoundly impact clients’ businesses, lives, finances, and reputations and are often emotionally charged, constantly putting attorneys in the position of carrying these burdens with their clients. This is further exacerbated by the adversarial system, where these emotionally charged cases require dealing with an opposing party and opposing counsel that are equally invested in specific case outcomes. Lawyers are typically high-achieving individuals in a profession where attention to detail is critical, and mistakes can have significant consequences, further contributing to high levels of stress and anxiety see, e.g., Journal of Health and Social Behavior.
2. Work-Life Balance:
Part and parcel of stress, many lawyers struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance due to the demanding nature of the profession. According to a survey conducted by the American Bar Association, more than half of all lawyers are dissatisfied with their work-life balance. Lawyers spend long, unpredictable hours working for their clients. The 2017 National Study on the Future of the Legal Profession found that nearly half of all lawyers worked 50 hours or more per week.
3. Mental Health Concerns:
This subject is not easy to talk about, but the Journal of Addiction Medicine published a detailed study finding that lawyers suffer from higher rates of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders compared to almost every other profession, including alcoholism at nearly twice that of other professional populations.
4. Lack of Personal Fulfillment or Job Satisfaction:
Some lawyers may find that the practice of law doesn’t meet personal or professional expectations. Much of the legal profession is predicated on “winning” the case or the transaction. Expectations from bosses, peers, clients, and even society, in general, have defined success for lawyers as “winning.” Lawyers often have to work on tight court deadlines or are at the mercy of decisions made by clients, judges, or other parties. This perceived lack of control can contribute to stress and burnout. Quite obviously, lawyers can’t win all the time. There are two sides to every case or transaction, so at least half the time, lawyers have to lose. Likewise, lawyers expect their work to be challenging and interesting. Not every case or transaction a lawyer works on can be interesting. Some days even complex work leaves lawyers feeling like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.
5. Financial Reasons:
Despite the public perception of law as a lucrative career, not every lawyer is financially successful. Especially for those with significant student loan debt, the financial realities of practicing law can lead to dissatisfaction and a desire for change.
There are many other reasons lawyers have left the law in recent years or moved to in-house jobs. The Great Resignation, which started during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has continued to this day, saw lawyers leaving traditional law firms to avoid in-office requirements, seeking kinder, gentler environments and better bosses. If nothing else, the pandemic opened the world’s eyes to mortality and perhaps a new paradigm to replace the two age-old options (“living to work” or “working to live”) with the idea of “living and working.” In other words, not doing one thing to the benefit of the other, but blending the two concepts and finding a way to work that is satisfying and enjoyable as part of a life well lived.
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