Feeling Disenchanted? Let's do something about it.

A Johns Hopkins Study completed in 2011 canvassed individuals in 100 different occupations, and researchers found that lawyers had the highest incidence of depression.  In 1991, the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division published a study that found that 40% of female attorneys reported feeling dissatisfied with their jobs. In 1996, lawyers overtook the title for the profession with the highest rate of suicide. Back in 1995, a study found that seven in ten California lawyers would leave their practice if the opportunity arose.

So what gives?

Why are lawyers so disenchanted? Or more aptly put, why aren’t more lawyers happy?

Despite the fact that this general sentiment of disillusionment within the profession has been widely known since the mid-1990s, it was only this past year that a team of researchers led by Professor Lawrence S. Krieger of the Florida State University College of Law completed a comprehensive study on what makes lawyers happy, after collecting data from over 7,800 lawyers, law students and judges.

What is most fascinating is that the happiest lawyers were found to be those who felt autonomous. In other words, it was essentially those who felt the most independent and supported for their individuality who were the happiest. To me, isn’t being a professional of any sort inherently a pretty independent, individualistic vocational pursuit? Something has obviously gone amiss when the exact sect in society’s working culture that is celebrated for having their own unique skills, training, and opinions feels quite to the contrary - like their uniqueness does not matter; or their individualized opinions and insights go unheard; or they cannot express themselves in a genuine way.

What does that mean?

It means that each one of us wants to be seen and to be heard. This may seem unsurprising given that the typical lawyer isn’t exactly a wallflower.. It goes deeper than that, however: all human beings at their core want to be validated. Lawyers are not some superhuman breed who somehow possess the ability to avoid this basic need. 

Many lawyers are not receiving this validation while at work, further worsened by the fact that most of us work long hours. Many of us are spending the vast majority of our time each day in a space where one of our most basic needs is not being met. It might make us depressed, right? It might make us feel, say, dissatisfied? Or in the very least it might beat the brightness out of us.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

There were lawyers in the study who did feel happy. Very happy, in fact. It was those happy lawyers who reported, essentially, that they felt their individuality mattered. They felt engaged by their practices, and that their opinions were heard and valued, and they had a lot freedom over how their work was performed.

I am wholly cognizant of the fact that I’m a happy lawyer. I am grateful that I work at a unique firm that has made a concerted effort to ensure that all members of the firm, from the support staff to the managing partner, feel valued. As a junior associate I have been given an amazing opportunity to manage a large volume of my own cases; as the only one making decisions on how these cases are handled, I feel my opinions and insights are deemed important.Consequently, even in the files with which I assist other, more senior associates and partners, I feel comfortable and safe to express my own legal analysis of the issues and insights about what type of strategy we should employ.

I recognize that many firms are structured in such a way that it is not until you make partner that you ever have a case of your very own. I recognize that in many firms associates feel like their opinions and insights are not really being heard.  I recognize that in many firms the culture is stoic and staunch, and that today’s generation X lawyer, raised in an era where being both different and special was celebrated, find it difficult to cloak their individuality for the bulk of their day. I see why lawyers, particularly young ones, are feeling pretty down.

But here’s the thing – it won’t change until you do.

If nothing changes, then nothing will change

If you are feeling unhappy or dissatisfied at work I encourage you to reclaim your happiness by taking the following three steps:

1. Find Opportunities to Express Your Opinions

My advice is to further engage with your work, and by that I mean to take a step back from a task that you might think is mundane and think for a few moments about the legal issues in the file.  What do you really think about it? How does it compare to other cases that you’ve worked on? Do you think the Defendant should be able to argue that point? Do you think that the company should be amalgamating?  Was what happened ethical? Do you sympathize with the Plaintiff’s position? Should a lawsuit have even been started? Express your opinions about it more.  Maybe you’ll express them to the handling lawyer when you hand in the assignment.  Maybe you’ll express them to your best friend at the officeor with your partner when you get home (abiding by the confidentiality rules, obviously) or your barista or your pet.  Whoever it is: Think. Express. Repeat.

2. Own Your Schedule

While you may not be able to control how many hours you have to bill, what percentage of the day you spend at the firm, how late you have to be there or what case you have to work on that day, you can control your morning routine.

Your time in the morning before you get to work is yours, and yours alone. Set rituals to anchor your day. I spend an hour in the morning dedicated entirely to myself, doing what I love to do (which is drink coffee, meditate, read the news, and then download a cool podcast to listen to on my way to work).

Create a morning routine so that no matter what waves of stress may come or how the day ends, you know that you carved out time that was unequivocally your own.

3. Always Be Yourself

Be unapologetic about the person you are, and show up at work each day prepared to be true to who you are. You are more than a suit, more than the ‘girl’ grinding through a stack of paperwork, so show it. If everyone else at your firm stays closed off and zipped up, then let them. I truly believe that change will never happen without a catalyst, so be the first person to express your own individuality.

The study says you’ll be happier as a result, and that is truly indispensable to the future of our profession.

About the Author

Catie Fenn is a Toronto based associate with Brown & Burnes, where she practises civil litigation.