The “Happiness Committee” at Law Firms

On 6 January 2008 the New York Times published three pages about “The Falling-Down Professions”. It reported the decline of the most elite of the traditional professions (i.e. lawyers and doctors).

According to the Times, nearly 20 percent of the lawyers will suffer depression at some point in their careers. The Chicago office of Perkins Coie unveiled a recently created “Happiness Committee”, offering candy apples and milkshakes to brighten the long and wearying days of its attorneys. Cravath, Swaine & Moore tried a more direct approach, offering associates an added bonus of as much as USD 50,000 on top of regular annual bonuses that range from USD 35,000 to USD 60,000.

The Sullivan & Cromwell partners began a program encouraging good manners and work appreciation, with measures as simple and easy to implement as saying “thank you” and “good work”. Apparently that helped reduce hemorrhaging associates from 30 percent a year to only 25 percent a year.

It is a fact that the number of applicants to U.S. law schools dropped to 83,500 in 2006 from 98,700 in 2004. That happened in Spain as well, and not only due to natality reasons. Young people are more appealed by flexibility, creativity and a satisfactory balance between personal and professional lives. Law firms, custodians of the tradition as they are proud to be, do not always understand that the winds are changing.

To make things worse, associates see partners work as hard as ever, with as many billable hours as the more junior people. Is there hope for our beloved profession?

You may say I am naïve but I believe that things are not so bad. Our profession is challenging in every respect, with all kinds of skills being put into practice every day such as strategic thinking, negotiation, counter-arguing, organisation, managing teams, dealing with difficult situations, etcetera. We help our clients succeed. Let’s be reasonable and think of hundreds (thousands?) of works where intellect is not used at all.

Demanding though our clients are, they seem to me more humane than those in London, let alone New York. And we are as happy to work hard as we are to enjoy some free time with our workmates. Saying “thank you” and “sorry” at the right times forms the basis of an acceptable behaviour in Spain. In such a small market as the high-quality legal services unbearable people and sweatshops end up being well known and avoided except by those who actually like to be slaved away.

A healthy working atmosphere is more about respect than about handing out candy or (many of you will surely disagree) money. Come on, open your hearts and start 2008 complaining about your law firm, how scarcely it cares about you and how cheaply it bought your soul wholesale. And above all, start 2008 putting up proposals to improve our profession before it is too late.