Summary: When attorneys can’t find any happiness from what they do everyday then they need to move on to another job for their own sake.
Read the full article Another Big Law Attorney I Know Just Died Young to learn more.
Attorneys have a habit of dying young. The stress of the job makes it a dangerous one. Harrison Barnes explains how attorneys can have the life sucked right out of them.
Attorneys are expected to bill thousands of hours each year meaning they are working long into the night every week and weekend with little time off. These kinds of hours are exhausting and take a serious toll on the health of the attorney. It may take a few years for the effects to become visible but often when they due, it is too late. They die of heart attacks, go crazy, or become so depressed that there is little left to live for.
Read Criticism Can Eat Attorneys Alive, Diminishing All Happiness in the Job.
Why do attorneys put themselves through this? Harrison explains it as, “The lives of these attorneys are basically this – you sit inside a law firm under some fluorescent lights for 15 hours a day and pound out a bunch of work for other people about matters you are personally not too concerned with. You do this because you are hoping for a bonus, recognition, to climb the partnership ladder, and so forth.”
Harrison has learned that “you want and need to be happy and you need to enjoy your job and life.” There are very few attorneys that can truly succeed in the environment of big law firms. They flourish in the culture of competition and stress. Most attorneys cannot handle being beaten down every day. If you are one of these attorneys then you shouldn’t be one anymore. No job is worth your life.
Do you think Harrison is right? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
To learn more about being happy as an attorney, read Why Most Attorneys Are Unhappy.
Source: https://www.bcgsearch.com/article/900046939/Another-Big-Law-Attorney-I-Know-Just-Died-Young/
Photo: drbobgonzales.com