Summary: Many of the top lawyers are tired of not having a home life and always being at work so new, smaller law firms are taking advantage of the opportunity to offer this ability to lawyers.
Attorneys are expected to work long hours. That is a part of the profession that no one particularly likes. It is common knowledge that being overworked can lead to health problems, decreased productivity, and burnout. Now it seems that some firms are taking advantage of this over-worked mentality to offer normal hours to attract the best talent.
The Center for Worklife Law conducted a study that found 50 entrepreneurial law firms offering lawyers better hours than what big law firms require. The ability to have a healthier work-life balance would be an incentive for most attorneys.
One of the law firms identified as a competitor in the survey is Axiom. The firm is one of the largest providers of legal services in the U.S. with over half of the Fortune 100 companies as clients. Counsel on Call is another firm that has over 900 lawyers and boasted a value of $50 million in 2013. They have one-third of the Fortune 100 companies as their clients.
BigLaw still rules the market when clients need a large team of lawyers for a job but that is about the only thing BigLaw still has going for it. Boutique firms are popping up and taking over specialized niches from BigLaw.
Imagine being able to work part time from home to do your legal work? These new firms are offering these types of schedules to their employees. Counsel on Call is headquartered in Nashville so many of their part-timers are budding musicians by night, lawyers by day. The other schedule being offered is a full-time flex where your 40-50 hours a week can be done at home or the office.
This is a trend that Amazon may want to take note of. Demanding unrealistic expectations from employees all the time will only allow for competitors to take advantage of situation.
Source: https://hbr.org/2015/08/law-firms-grueling-hours-are-turning-defectors-into-competitors
Photo: workerscompensationwatch.com