Top Reasons Why Lawyers Leave Firms

Is it the culture? Lack of mentoring? Or is purely to gain more work/life balance? We take a look at the top reasons lawyers leave and what firms can do about it.

Time

When asked, most Lawyers reason that they leave firms due to extreme workloads and the high level of time commitment a firm demands. Newer generations of lawyers want to balance workload and their family life, unfortunately without flexible working arrangements it all tends to become too overwhelming and leads to burn out, lawyers loose their passion and desire to produce quality work and eventually disengage from their career.

Lack of Mentoring & Training

This area is one where young lawyers are becoming increasingly dissatisfied. Often firms are making spiritless attempts at mentoring and informal training. This along with limited or complete lack of Partner contact are becoming the single most common reasons for lawyers leaving a firm.

Culture

It’s unquestionable that culture can make or break any firm’s ability to retain talent. But determining ‘culture’ and what makes it good or bad is notoriously difficult. Prominent themes that come up in our discussions with lawyers are lack of transparency, poor communication, lack of trust and constructive criticism, lack of team work and lack of resources.

BigLaw vs NewLaw

Lawyers are leaving BigLaw and heading to NewLaw. Let’s face it, BigLaw doesn’t like to do things differently, NewLaw is not troubled by it and new generation lawyers find this extremely attractive. Lawyers want to feel as though they are playing an integral role in the business, feel valued for the contribution and aren’t looked at as just a number. They want their careers to feel less stagnant and NewLaw firms offer plenty of opportunity for growth.

How can firms retain top talent?

The hiring process is a substantial investment of time, money and resources. With this being said, it is imperitive that firms maintain job satifisfaction and employee retention rate. Although salaries and bonuses can be the initial attraction for new talent, there are several other factors to consider if you are looking to keep them around for the long haul. As part of our video blog series, 5 Minutes with Sonder, we sit down with top legal professionals to discuss what they think firms can do better to retain top talent.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it”
– A Lincoln