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When lawyers suffer from burnout, they may not know it or what to do.
They might think it’s just how it is in a law firm, where everyone works themselves to the bone. At least, that’s what most (77 percent) Massachusetts lawyers surveyed think when they admit experiencing burnout in 2022. Nearly half have thought about leaving their job or the legal profession.
Another survey indicates that lawyers experience burnout about half (47 percent) of the time.
That’s not good or normal. It is also not inevitable.
Lawyers can be effective without slogging through burnout. You can overcome burnout if you or someone you know is experiencing it.
What is lawyer burnout?
Burnout is more serious than being tired at the end of a hectic day. It is an occupational hazard resulting from sustained workplace stress that you have not managed successfully. You feel exhausted, cynical, or ineffective when you experience burnout. Other burnout symptoms include a mental pull away from work.
Anyone in any profession can experience burnout. However, lawyers, especially those in complex niches like regulatory law, tend to suffer from it more frequently. You can be drawn into law practice for good reasons which might suit you. However, circumstances in your law practice can lead to burnout even as you enjoy the work.
Lawyers can feel burned out for various reasons. The most common ones are high pressure from the demands of complex cases, tight deadlines, and high stakes. Long workdays lead to exhaustion, isolation, and a lack of control over their lives.
On top of that, law firms often lack resources to help alleviate workplace stress. These include flexible schedule options, open feedback, office engagement, and social support groups.
Studies have linked burnout to poor work performance, including less effective deliberative thinking. It has also been tied to less professionalism and potentially unethical behavior. Moreover, burnout is connected to poor physical and mental health, including anxiety and depression.
The likelihood of law professionals experiencing high burnout to abuse drugs is five-fold higher than those with lower levels of burnout.
One 2020 survey of over 3,800 respondents went through some common symptoms indicating burnout. It found that 31.2 percent feel depressed, and 64 percent have anxiety. Furthermore, 10.1 percent feel they drink too much, and 2.8 percent feel they have a drug problem.
Additionally, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has only increased the stressors, compounded by the isolation of working from home. One 2022 report indicates that 79 percent of employees have experienced burnout due to work-related stress. Nearly half (44 percent) reported physical fatigue, and one-third claimed cognitive weariness and emotional exhaustion.
How To Overcome Burnout
Suppose you notice these symptoms in yourself or a colleague. You can correct them before the problem becomes bigger. Recognize and address the issue early so you can avoid severe consequences.
1. Take inventory
Most people with burnout think in all-or-nothing patterns, so lawyers generally say they want to quit their jobs when they feel miserable. But the worst time to make a significant change in your life is when you feel down or emotional. Consider your goals regularly to ensure you are still on point with business objectives and not spinning your wheels.
Don’t do anything drastic or look for a magic wand to solve everything. Instead, monitor your burnout symptoms and their variability to determine if they are situational or persistent. Then, think of ways to address each – and don’t discount partial fixes. Getting someone to drive your kids to school twice weekly might not be a big move, but it gives you a breather for a few hours.
As a law firm grows, little inefficiencies become more significant issues and majorly impact your bottom line and your time. When you are just starting, you can manage and track everything yourself.
Many lawyers handle substantive legal work and administrative matters. That can save you some money but may become an issue as your practice grows. You can’t afford to put out fires as things grow constantly. Trying to do everything yourself can eventually cost you money.
Focus on things only you can do and hire the right people to do everything else. Workday routines can help save time and stay organized.
You should also consider automating tasks. Law firms provide services, so their revenue is mainly based on the billable hours they render to their clients. These hours include:
- Administrative work distinct from client work
- Client Intake
- Billing and collections
- Practice management tasks.
Administrative tasks can be tedious and time-consuming. Legal document automation and billing software are examples of tools all law firms should incorporate into their practices to automate and streamline these tasks.
2. Take control
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If you’re experiencing lawyer burnout, identify what choices you can make that will impact your quality of life. Set boundaries over relationships and activities. Be realistic about what you must accomplish immediately and which emails can wait until tomorrow.
Analyze when you’re the most and least effective, then mark the days on the calendar. Use it to block the best time for priorities and use less productive time for administrative work, social media, or a walk. See what else you can do to stave off the burnout blues.
Plan ahead
Lawyers face constant competing demands. The list sometimes feels endless for client meetings, court appearances, billable hours, new client consults, emails, conference calls, research, writing, and preparing for meetings with opposing counsel.
With so many things to stay on top of daily, we can’t understate the importance of planning. Think yearly, quarterly, monthly, and weekly planning.
A roadmap for your law practice and career will help you zoom out from the day-to-day business and feel confident that you are always moving in the right direction. You feel overwhelmed when you cannot meet expectations and demands. The best solution is to create a clear plan.
In the tech world, companies use a planning process made popular by Google called objectives and key results (OKRs). But it is also applicable to the legal profession. The idea is to start with your objectives for the year and then break them down into the details of how you will achieve them quarter-by-quarter, month-by-month, and so on.
Set hours and boundaries
Lawyers tend to work long hours. Ideally, you should only spend a total of 45 hours a week, and that’s not just billable hours.
A good work-life balance is critical for overcoming burnout, and the “always on” culture does more harm than good in the workplace. An excellent practice to implement is choosing (and sticking to) a consistent end time and avoiding working nights or weekends. Additionally, make it a habit not to check your email after hours. Turn off email and instant message notifications and limit your news and social media intake daily.
Beyond time-block planning your day, you must also set boundaries to perform your work at a high level. Constant deadlines, meetings, hearings, and client requests can get overwhelming quickly.
It is essential to set some boundaries for yourself and your clients. That allows you to optimize your ability to deliver high-quality service to them and manage your stress. For instance, take the time to set some ground rules when you bring on a new client. Inform them that you may not always respond to emails or messages after hours but will do so on the next working day.
You also need to set boundaries for yourself. Commit to shutting down your computer and putting work away at a particular time each night. Ensure you avoid falling into a routine where you always burn the candle at both ends. There might be weeks when you have briefs, mediations, and court hearings coming out of your ears. But that’s not every week, so you just plow through.
It is also best to integrate non-work-related activities into your day. You can be more productive when you feel refreshed and energized during your billable hours.
Get moving
One of the precursors for lawyer burnout is often simple things like not having time to exercise. We all know how important exercise is, but it is hard to fit it into our busy daily lives consistently.
Working for long hours, particularly when you have multiple tasks and deadlines to meet, may seem like the only option. However, such prolonged work sessions can drain you both emotionally and mentally.
Your work should focus on more than just the quantity of tasks completed. Instead, prioritize taking multiple breaks throughout the day. You will likely observe a rise in the quality and quantity of your work.
Take a short break every twenty minutes to stretch or do deep breathing. That can make you more in tune with your mental and physical well-being. To get moving, you can take a fitness class, ride a bike, or walk around the area during your lunch break. That will give you a chance to get some fresh air. Physical activity and time outside can help regulate and lessen stress.
You don’t need to craft an elaborate plan—just start. Tee off with something you can do consistently, whether taking a 30-minute walk at lunch every day or doing a few jumping jacks here and there. Do that for 30 days straight before trying to do more.
3. Take better care of yourself
Chronic burnout can lead to various health issues, including high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory issues, and musculoskeletal pain. Research indicates that people experiencing burnout are more likely to miss work due to sick days, either because of physical illness or taking time off to deal with psychological problems.
On the other hand, regular exercise, healthy nutrition, and adequate sleep can help prevent burnout. So, add some workout sessions, take midday breaks, have healthy lunches, and set a hard stop time for the end of your workday.
4. Take time to decompress
Billable hours are important. However, one 2021 survey shows that the average lawyer workweek is over 50 hours. That may backfire.
Studies show that those with burnout are less productive and less efficient. They are prone to presenteeism, which means they are physically present at work but not getting any done.
Take a vacation. Missing a few hours or days of work might seem unthinkable. Still, it’s not so bad if the alternative is to experience burnout so severe that you quit altogether. Americans work long hours and take few vacation days despite research showing the benefits of time off.
Vacations reduce stress, lower heart disease risk, improve outlook, and motivate people. Planning a vacation can alleviate stress and make people happier. Taking time off work is refreshing and rejuvenating, whether for travel or a staycation.
5. Get more sleep
It’s essential to get enough sleep to avoid burnout. Severe sleep deprivation can cause a variety of symptoms like distractibility, irritability, depression, feelings of powerlessness, self-doubt, and poor cognitive functioning.
In some cases, burnout may be a result of not getting enough sleep. However, both burnout and sleep deprivation are likely contributing factors. A vicious cycle exists between burnout and lack of sleep, each exacerbating the other.
Establish a regular bedtime to get more sleep. Most people need seven to eight hours of sleep a night, and about one in three American adults don’t get that. Get enough rest and prioritize physical, mental, and emotional well-being as a person instead of just being a lawyer.
6. Get a support network
Many people who report experiencing burnout feel socially isolated at work. For example, more than 90 percent of survey participants in the Massachusetts study said they did not receive kindness and respect at work. Their colleagues were not supportive and lacked supervisors with a positive outlook.
Build a support network. Find peers or mentors who can help you achieve a new perspective. Check out the following resources for help:
- ABA Mental Health Awareness
- Lawyer Assistance Programs (LAPs) provide confidential services and support to lawyers with mental health or substance use issues. You can find your local program from the directory on the American Bar Association website.
- Lawyer Depression Project
- Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers
- Local and state bars: Most local, state, and specialty bar associations offer resources for legal professionals. Find the help you need in your state or city with a quick search online.
7. Try mindfulness training
Mindfulness exercises have been found to reduce burnout by teaching people to be more present in the moment and more attentive to physiological responses to stressors. It helps attorneys filter out noise, improving productivity and focus.
8. Find a therapist for lawyers
If you’re a lawyer suffering from burnout, you should see a therapist.
Finding one who takes your insurance and understands the unique needs of a lawyer might be annoying, but it’s worth it. Therapists who don’t get it can lead to years of untreated generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. However, you can benefit greatly from a therapist understanding the difference between burnout and stress.
Look Out for Yourself To Overcome Burnout
Lawyers looking for a quick way to reboot back to their old selves may be frustrated to hear that recovery from burnout is a process that takes time. Enhancing self-awareness and learning to address issues takes time. However, given the time it took to reach this point, it’s reasonable to expect a longer recovery.
Lawyers, employers, and clients must remember that law is stressful. People’s lives often depend on a case’s outcome. But lawyers are human beings, too. If you don’t acknowledge that you must take care of yourself first, you shouldn’t be surprised if you crash and burn.
