Are Associate Attorneys Beginning to Enjoy Their Job More?

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Summary: The work demanded of associates used to be so daunting that making it just a few years in the career was difficult, but things are changing and conditions improving.

Rewind just a few short years ago and associate attorneys could be considered as having the worst job in the country. Law school students were graduating with very little chance of getting a job to help pay off their thousands in student loan debt. The legal industry was left devastated by the recession so law firms were cutting back and no longer hiring expensive first year associates. There were no jobs to be found.

  

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The work these associates, the ones lucky enough to find employment in a big law firm, were responsible for completing was mundane yet stressful. The fear of making a mistake yet knowing mistakes were being made put every associate on edge. They were spending hours scouring researching documents all in order to keep a job that paid their bills and debts but provided little else. With the average student loan amount for law school grads sitting at $125,000, these first year associates cannot do anything that might jeopardize their job, like complain.

A survey by CareerBliss in 2013 found that associate attorneys were the least happy with their jobs of the surveyed careers. They rated 2.89 out of 5, scoring below Customer Service associates, clerks, and tech support.

Fast forward to the year 2016 and you will find that things are improving for associate attorneys. Technology is greatly to thank for the improvements, allowing much of the document review to be done faster and easier with the use of programs and specific software. Associate attorneys still put in long hours, much of it spent on document review tasks but they are able to be more mobile with the use of iPads and laptops. Virtual assistants are also helping with their work. Software is being developed to do all the document review work so associates can spend their time more directly involved in cases.

Studies are now showing that associate attorneys are happy with their jobs with 80 percent of 881 surveyed associates saying they were “highly satisfied.” This improvement in satisfaction is also thanks to a bump in starting salaries. Just this year, many of the big law firms and a few boutiques raised their salary rates. Cravath Swaine & Moore was the first to announce their increase to a $180,000 starting salary. After that, other law firms were quick to announce similar rates.

Do you think the overall work environment for associates has improved? Tell us your experiences in the comments below.

To learn more about virtual legal workers, read these articles:

• Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Lawyers and Paralegals?
• Are You an Average Lawyer? You May Be Replaced
• Presence of Robots in Legal Industry Growing

Photo: flickr.com