Law Practice Tips

How Hard Do You Work?
By Jim Calloway, Director OBA Management Assistance Program

Are you working too hard? 

Have you ever noticed how many times lawyers greet each other with an inquiry about their work load? "Are you staying busy?" "How’s that Smith case going?" "How hard are you working?" Perhaps they are just making idle conversation, perhaps they are checking the local market for legal services right now or perhaps they are working too hard themselves and wonder how others are doing.

If one was to do a public opinion survey about the personal attributes of lawyers, the general public would probably repeat a lot of stereotypes. Many of these would no doubt be negative. One has to wonder to what extent they would they use the description "hard worker."

Yet most lawyers I know work hard and work long hours.

One also has to wonder whether our mythical survey respondents would use the term self sacrificing.

I read or heard somewhere a few years ago that lawyers were the only profession that would take a phone call and then get up and leave their family on Christmas Eve so that their client could get out of jail and not have to miss Christmas Eve with his or her own family. From pro bono representation to community service of all kinds, many lawyers perform selfless acts every day. Many civic organizations depend on the support of their local lawyers.

Being a hard worker is supposed to be a virtue, right? Yet we have a commonly used phrase for those who are too tied up in their work - the workaholic. So which is it - a virtue or a vice? The answer of course is that it is a matter of degree, a question of balance. Leaving your family at home on Christmas Eve may be a selfless act but your family may feel like the holidays are a special time to be a bit selfish and focus on them. On the other hand, if it is possible, it usually does not take that long to make arrangements to get someone bonded out of jail.

Generally in this space we cover ways to work in the law office better. The subjects can cover any one of a number of things from legal technology, law firm management issues, using Internet resources or other law practice tips. This month I am going to talk about life outside of the office. And, unlike most months, I am not going to give you the results of research or cutting edge new information. Most importantly I am not going to give you the answers. This is because, simply put, I don’t have the answers and because finding the true answers depend on a number of factors that are unique to each of you.

But I have plenty of questions. And, as we know, asking the right question is the first step to finding the truth.

Let me set the tone by quoting from Prime Witness, a novel by lawyer Steve Martini. In this novel one of the subplots involved the tension between a lawyer and his spouse who believed that he did not spend enough time with his young daughter.

In this scene, Nikki, the wife, announces she is going to go for entertainment with the daughter as the lawyer prepares for a major murder trial.

"I’m taking Sarah to the movies, and then we’re having dinner with Laura Benson and her girls." Laura Benson is another lawyer’s widow, married to a trial mogul, one of the local tort sharks, who at any time has more irons in the fire than the village smithy.

Nikki has joined the "widows’ web" a network of lawyers’ wives who in effect have given up all hope of weaning their husbands from their obsessive work ethic. I have seen some of their literature, mimeographed sheets with the motto on top:

"Live with ‘em or leave ‘em— either way you lose ‘em."

It is the latest in self-help for the lawyer’s spouse.

— From Prime Witness

The obvious question is whether your spouse would sign up for membership in a local chapter of the widow’s web if it was available.

So back to the original question. How hard are you working? If you are working harder right now than you would like, the next question is why are you working too hard? Working hard is good for you, society and your family. But working too hard is not. Among the many reasons why is the greater likelihood of mistakes when the lawyer is overworked.

The adage circulates periodically that no one ever lies on their death bed wishing that they had spent more time at the office. This is often mentioned as a warning to the workaholic to remember the importance of family and other values. It is certainly true. Of course it is also not completely true. A person on their death bed leaving behind a family that is well-provided for financially perhaps has fewer regrets than the person who knows that a foreclosure and eviction for the family could soon follow that person’s demise. Clearly there are real consequences to one’s actions. Many of us have represented clients and had friends who held down two jobs and worked a brutal number of hours to keep bread on the table and a roof over their family’s head. We do what we have to do.

When I discuss this issue with lawyers, far too many of them tell me that they are working harder today that ever before and making less money. Given some of the statistics I cited in last month’s case management article about increasing number of lawyers and declining of total real dollars spent on legal services, that would not be surprising.

The practice of law is a demanding and, at times, rather unforgiving profession. If you fail to exchange that witness list on time or fail to file that civil action before the statute of limitations runs, there could be serious consequences - both for your client and for you personally. Every lawyer who has ever prepared for a major trial knows that there is always more that could be done. Most all trial lawyers in this state do an excellent job and nothing here should suggest otherwise, but there are always areas where you could do more background checks, read more cases detailing the substantive law, spend more time and money on trial graphics and a host of other things. Lawyers have to make judgments about what is necessary. It makes no economic sense to expend $20,000 in legal fees and trial preparation expenses on a matter where only $11,000 is in dispute in most cases.

Still in the period immediately before a big trial it is routine to have hours of last minute preparation.

So almost every lawyer will have periods where long hours are required, whether it is the litigator finalizing trial preparations or the tax lawyer during tax season. It is just a fact of our lives.

There is also a business reality to working long hours. It increases business income. You make more money. Whether you are on the committee of the largest law firm in Oklahoma that sets the target for annual billable hours for associates or whether you are a solo practitioner with no support staff, this fact is undeniable. Working long days, nights and weekends generates income with almost no increase of overhead. It is rare you will find a lawyer who is very successful financially and does not regularly put in long hours.

Overhead may be increased minimally, more cost in electricity and light bulbs from "burning the midnight oil" for example, but essentially there is no real cost to the business from 60- and 70-hour work weeks. There clearly is a cost, however. The cost is borne by the lawyer’s family and by the lawyer having less of a life outside of work.

I have visited with lawyers who make a point of going home every week day at 5:30 p.m. I have talked with lawyers who go to the office every Sunday after the evening meal and work until almost midnight to be ready for the upcoming week. Some lawyers like to get to the office before sunrise to start the day with some uninterrupted time. Others go home for dinner with the family and then back to work most nights. Every individual has to find the rhythm that fits his or her life.

When we do law firm consultations, we ask the lawyers and the staff the following question. If you learned that you only had one year to live, but had to continue working, would you continue working here? Think about that a few moments because the answer is very instructive. In fact, we all are in that position, but instead of only one year to live we have a finite, but unknown, number of years to live. Would you want to spend it all working the way you are working now?

Balancing life and the practice of law is a hot topic that is often discussed. There is a growing body of literature on the subject. We try to present at least one program on the topic during our summer OBA Solo and Small Firm Conference. (In fact, the conference itself is a good way to involve your family with your professional life and spend some time with them while you complete some CLE and have some fun.)

Books on balancing life and law practice include the following titles:

Transforming Practices: Finding Joy and Satisfaction in the Legal Life by Steven Keeva (an ABA Journal Book published by Contemporary Books, 1999)

The Lawyer’s Guide to Balancing Life and Work, by George W. Kaufman (1999)

Life, Law and the Pursuit of Balance: A Lawyer’s Guide to Quality of Life edited by Jeffrey R. Simmons (1996)

Of course when I inform lawyers about these books, I usually get the response that the lawyer does not have time to read them. I understand that concept, having dozens of books and hundreds of articles in my "need to read" list. But it is also clear that if you are struggling with these issues, you could benefit by some professional assistance and more information.

As I admitted in the beginning of this discussion, I do not have the answers to these questions. My six-year-old son recently engaged me in a discussion about the amount of time I spend working at home and not playing with him. The main observation I have is to note that this is a serious issue for many, many lawyers. If you are you struggling with a huge workload, you are not alone. It is a systemic part of your profession. If you are reading this article and thinking that it does not apply to you in any way, then congratulations!

Think about it. Only you have your own personal answer to the balance between life and work.

Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal Feb. 9, 2002 - Vol. 73; No.6