Why (Women) Lawyers Leave Law Firms

In a word, it is “culture.”  The culture of law firms is not very compatible with what many  lawyers want and need in their professional lives.  According to a recent article, many lawyers emphasize the need for things like flexibility, less emphasis on time billed and more emphasis on project success, more feedback and recognition of value to the organization, and less toxicity in the workplace.  Surprisingly, according to this article in Law Practice Today on line, both money and promotions are secondary to the time and culture issues.

This article was based on survey information from both males and females.  The emphasis was on retention of talent in law firms, and all of the lawyers surveyed had left at least one legal employer.  Although the participating lawyers all found fault with the way that law firms function, they were not without hope that things could turn around with the appropriate amount of attention to the problems that are plaguing law firms and driving young lawyers away.

Intense time demands led the list of critical flaws.  That comes as no surprise, and law firms have responded with part-time and flexible time policies.  However, those flexible programs will have to come without the stigmas that have accompanied them in the past and labeled lawyers who take advantage of the programs as “lacking the commitment necessary for upward mobility.”  Only time will tell how that gets resolved.

The most interesting part of the article for me was the discussion of the toxic nature of law firm culture.  I have just written an article, which will be published soon in Corporate Counsel on line, that digs deep into that issue, and it is a great concern to many of us who have experienced such toxic environments.

The toxic nature of law firms is disturbing.  I believe that it is founded in unhealthy attitudes of turf wars and fee credits that do not lend themselves to the kind of team efforts and mentoring that women gravitate to and that Millennials, both men and women, seem to prefer.  At the bottom of most of those kinds of negative behaviors is greed.  We need to address that head on.  Multi-million dollar partner salaries at the top of law firms drives the need for huge profits, which, in turn, drives the need for huge billable hour requirements.  Quality of life suffers. 

Gender issues also create toxic environments, and we have to take a close look at those issues and how to eliminate negative gender attitudes from our workplaces.  Implicit bias is a very big problem, and most law firm leaders cannot even define it.  The need for education is great, and law firms need to be reaching out to experts to help them identify and eliminate those behaviors.

The article concludes, and I agree, that law firms will continue to lose talent until they dedicate adequate resources to these problems and solve them.   And, law firms not only will lose talent, but they will lose it to the competition.  Although many women, especially, left law firms in the past to return home and care for families, that is no longer the case.  Today, attorneys are not opting out to care for their children full-time, and they are gravitating toward the New Law practice models which provide lawyers with opportunities to do legal work from their homes and in more flexible practices.  That is the competition, and it is a growing trend.  Law firms have a reason to worry.