Circling the Drain

The New York Post recently had an article about a so-called "Brain Drain" occurring at major law firms allegedly hemorrhaging midlevel associates in record numbers. (For the non-legal among you, "midlevel" means attorneys practicing between 3 and 5 years, on average. 1-2 year attorneys are junior and 6 and up are senior until they either make partner or get the hint and leave.)

The crux of the piece is that these associates are sick and tired of having their lives continually tied to their jobs, of being tethered to a Blackberry, working weekends, and sleeping in their offices, so after a couple years of practice they're chukking it all and taking their fat bonus checks to go hiking in Peru or something.

I've seen this phenomenon, and though it definitely does exist, the article is a little too inflammatory for my tastes. While the first few years of a young law firm associate's life cost the firm more in infrastructure, salary and training than the associate will actually bring in to the firm, the law firm partnership tier structure has always been "up or out," meaning associates have X number of years to either make partner or get the hint and leave to do something far less lucrative. This system relies on natural attrition to ensure that while an incoming first year associate class might include 30, 50 or even 100 lawyers in a particular firm's office, by the time that class is up for partner the ranks have been thinned to 3, 5 or 10. Attrition is necessary, is part of the process of associates figuring out if the biglaw partner lifestyle is something they want to work towards, and the law firms figuring out if they think the associates can hack it.

Now, the interesting part of the article to me is that these associates are turning away record salaries and pocketing massive bonuses just prior to their departures. I think the gist is that if firms want to keep more promising midlevels, plying them with additional cash probably won't work. You can only pay someone so much before they decide this life is not worth it, particularly if they have a spouse and/or children at home clamoring for their attention or have not seen friends or family in months and simply feel as though they might drop dead of fatigue at any moment. When people hit their limit, money isn't going to make them change their mind. If firms are serious about reducing attrition levels, it's going to require lifestyle changes, such as paid sabbaticals earnable by top billing associates, or reduced billing requirements, or some form of accomodation to our unfortunate insistence on trying to have those things called LIVES.

The problem is, I don't think big firm partners can really wrap their heads around the need for lifestyle accomodations. They made partner the old-fashioned way: by billing the shit out of their associate years, and sacrificing everything to get there. Why should they make it easier for some poor schlub who's tired of sleeping at his desk to go sleep at home every once in awhile, when said partner is still billing 250 hours a month? The problem, ultimately, is that the law firm "brass ring" looks a little tarnished from the vantage point of a midlevel or senior associate. It's not like you make partner and then life is gravy, you hand off all the work to the associates while you go play golf or tennis or screw your mistress. No, at most big firms (mine included) the partners work just as long and hard, if not longer and harder, than the associates. The only bonus we associates see to partnership is more money, the ability to have a financial stake in the profits of the firm, but as I just said, money doesn't make up for missing your children's birthdays again and again, for having to cancel your honeymoon because of a sudden trial date, or for sacrificing the "luxury" of getting married and having a family because you simply don't have time to date. At least, it sure feels to me like it doesn't.

At my last firm I hit the wall in early 2005 when preparing for a trial I was suddenly thrown into (with no training, explanation, or even help--it was a REALLY bad situation for a variety of reasons I would prefer not to go into) during a 3 week period when slept 4 hours a night if I was lucky, and wandered around in this strange haze of delirium and terror. At some point when I started to feel like I was collapsing under the weight and exhaustion of it all, I called my father and begged him to let me quit. Why I felt the need to get permission to make a decision at 29 years old I'm not really sure, but I think it was because I needed him to understand that this was not just the overdramatic venting I have become known for in my family, but that I was actually drowning, losing my mind, and simply seconds away from chukking it all and getting into my car and never going back again. I came SO close to quitting during that time period. In the end, after the worst 3 weeks of life I hopefully will ever experience, the case settled just before trial and I was able to pull myself off the precipice. But I started making preparations that very next day to leave that firm, and 6 months later I did. I had no new job lined up, no idea what I would do down here in Atlanta, I just knew I had to get out on my own good terms before I suddenly ran screaming out on awful terms. I would imagine for biglaw associates who go through months or years of such crushing pressure with no hope of being saved by settlement, the feeling is pretty similar. I can totally understand their decision to quit, and I don't think there is much if anything that big firms can do about it.

The practice of law in big firms has changed in many ways over the past 20 years, most for the worst in terms of the personal satisfaction of those practicing it. These are changes that probably cannot be undone. I am tempted to say that the most anyone can do is make sure all those bright eager young minds headed for law schools are headed there with eyes wide open, understanding what they are getting themselves into. It is not all Brooks Brothers suits, BMWs and dinners at Nobu, and the sooner they understand exactly what sort of life they are buying for themselves, the better. There is a lot of excitement, challenge and merit to practicing law, and I don't mean to suggest it's an entirely shitty career path. But I think the public perception is far different from the reality and a lot of young associates feel as though they were tricked into a life they would never have chosen if they really understood.

Someday I'll write the post about why I returned to Biglaw after practicing for 3 years in smaller firms, but not today. Today, I'm just happy that I haven't thought about the precipice in the almost-year I've been at my current firm. I'm not ready to circle the drain just yet.