For those in the legal profession, the need to build community has never been stronger. According to research conducted by the Harvard Business Review, lawyering still counts as one of the “loneliest professions,” and a growing body of research has raised alarms about the mental health of overworked attorneys: one 2023 study found that lawyers facing high stress, overwork and loneliness were more than twice as likely to contemplate suicide as other working adults. The crisis is not confined to attorneys putting in long hours at the largest firms, however, but affects lawyers across the profession including in solo practice, suggesting that isolation and lack of community are significant contributing factors in addition to workload.
For those in the legal profession, the need to build community has never been stronger. According to research conducted by the Harvard Business Review, lawyering still counts as one of the “loneliest professions,” and a growing body of research has raised alarms about the mental health of overworked attorneys: one 2023 study found that lawyers facing high stress, overwork and loneliness were more than twice as likely to contemplate suicide as other working adults. The crisis is not confined to attorneys putting in long hours at the largest firms, however, but affects lawyers across the profession including in solo practice, suggesting that isolation and lack of community are significant contributing factors in addition to workload.
A great deal has been written about post-pandemic workplace trends, especially with respect to the impact that remote work arrangements have had on workplace culture. While there are many advantages to working remotely, the process of building community requires a different approach than tapping into the bustling office environment and watercooler camaraderie of pre-pandemic days.
For those in the legal profession, the need to build community has never been stronger. According to research conducted by the Harvard Business Review, lawyering still counts as one of the “loneliest professions,” and a growing body of research has raised alarms about the mental health of overworked attorneys: one 2023 study found that lawyers facing high stress, overwork and loneliness were more than twice as likely to contemplate suicide as other working adults. The crisis is not confined to attorneys putting in long hours at the largest firms, however, but affects lawyers across the profession including in solo practice, suggesting that isolation and lack of community are significant contributing factors in addition to workload.
Finding Community Outside of the Brick-and-Mortar Office
With most attorneys spending hours behind computer screens each day - whether in the office or from home - finding time for friends and family and, yes, interacting with colleagues, can be challenging. The excessive hours requirements that drive burnout at many firms are due at least in part to those firms’ overhead structure, including Class A office space and high partner compensation commitments. But the cost represented by all that office space does not translate into a more healthy workplace culture as many lawyers have adapted to remote work and aren’t going back. The reality is that working from home “is becoming a permanent part of how jobs are done,” according to Bloomberg. Surveys estimate that US workers will continue working from home 30-40% of the time, even after the pandemic, with white collar workers like lawyers staying remote at even higher levels.
What is more, attorneys who do return to the physical office may find that the environment itself does not provide the connections that firms seem to assume. Even before the pandemic, most big firm lawyers never saw their clients in the office, and teams have long been spread across multiple markets and offices anyway. Now, many offices are half-empty on any given day even where office facetime is required.
Since a return to the office environment is not correlated to a strengthened sense of community, lawyers need to rethink the ways they invest in making connections. Certainly, the research suggests that investing in community provides the best antidote to feelings of isolation and loneliness among attorneys. So what does a new approach look like?
Flexibility to Work & Live Anywhere
The first step is to take more control over the time lawyers have available in any given day. This of course is easier without the burden of long commutes and mandatory office days. In fact, the autonomy that remote work offers professionals has been credited with providing a more fulfilling work-life balance and higher levels of professional satisfaction across the board.
According to one study by CNBC, remote workers are happier than their in-office counterparts, more satisfied with their pay, and feel valued by their colleagues. Perhaps more importantly, remote workers can micro-adapt the contours of their working day to times when, for example, kids return from school or dogs need to be walked. Fifteen minutes of face time with family during the working day can be transformative without affecting work productivity, but is not available to a worker who is downtown in an office.
Economic Freedom & Technology Help Too At remote law firms, the lack of office overhead also reduces the hours pressure needed to cover that overhead – which the rise of remote work suggests is increasingly unnecessary anyway. Indeed, Reuters called distributed law firms the “wave of the future” for precisely this reason.
Workers drawn to an alternative model also start out with a shared sense of mission, leading to stronger community bonds among colleagues, and the technology on which distributed work is built also makes remote work more efficient, which is better for firms and clients.
Community as a Strategic Priority
It’s true that remote communication is no substitute for in-person contact. But the best companies and law firms operating on distributed platforms find creative and innovative tech-enabled ways to get people connected, through onboarding and mentoring, collaboration sessions, networking drop-ins, social hours, regional events, and retreats. And teams who come together in those environments have a greater sense of occasion and purpose than they would just seeing the same faces in an office every week. At the end of the day, community-building and engagement takes concerted effort and action by leadership, individuals and teams, but making it a strategic priority and investing in the resources to effectively execute structured programs is critical to law firm success and a more fulfilling practice experience.
1Stressed, Lonely, and Overcommitted: Predictors of Lawyer Suicide Risk, Healthcare, 2023.
2A 2023 report on legal trends for solo law firms found that most solo practitioners working over 40 hours a week reported poor mental and emotional wellness, as well as low satisfaction with their professional lives.
3“Social connectedness as a determinant of mental health: A scoping review.”
