Work-Life Balance: A Growing Concern for the Legal Industry

After the initial euphoria of being a hot-shot lawyer and working for long hours reduces, lawyers are forced to think about how fair they are being to the other aspects of life. Like their family, health, social life, special interests, society and other passions. According to surveys almost 50% of lawyers admit that they worry about the work-life balance they need to create in their lives and would readily exchange less money for more free time. This is why enterprises and legal firms have begun to take this seriously and are working to provide a better balance between work and life for their legal professionals. A survey from the year 2017 shows that this desire for a better balanced life is stronger in the young lawyers of the millennial generation.

The intellectual capacity needed for this profession in ever increasing complexities of business environments coupled with demanding timelines and volume are stretching the working hours for lawyers to a great extent. However, research has shown that the most productive lawyers are those who take a break from work every once in a while. So if working more hours is not contributing to the bottom line then what should the enterprises and law firms do about it? Many firms have started implementing programs to give a better work-life balance to their employees and are calling them "alternative work arrangements."  

Right now there are five major ways that lawyers can solve the work-life balance issues to give themselves more time to spend on activities that are non-work related. They are -

1] Telecommuting

It allows lawyers to work from home for a couple of days in a week so that they can spend time away from office and still be productive. Working from home removes commuting time on those two chosen days and protects them from workplace distractions. Firms have studied this option and they believe that it makes these lawyers more productive than in a situation where they work in the office every day without breaks.

The utilization of PracticeLeague's Enterprise Legal Management platform software by the enterprise will enable the lawyers to work from home and be more productive.

2] Flextime

This method works immensely well for families where both the parents work outside the home. It allows the lawyers to negotiate the terms of work with their superiors in the office. The work load remains the same for the lawyers but they get to work according to timings which allow them to take care of their other obligations like taking care of the kids. Some lawyers might start working from 8:00 am till 5:00 pm while others may prefer the regular office timings of 10:00 am till 7:00 pm. The advantage in this method is that lawyers are able to set their own work timings and this makes them more productive.

The billable hours can be captured accurately by utilizing PracticeLeague'sPractice Management software which will allow the firm to maximize efficiency.

3] Part-time

Lawyers may choose this option which is probably the oldest alternative work arrangement in the work place. They may choose to work for a few hours according to their schedule and still earn an adequate amount to take care of all their work and non-work responsibilities. This option is the perennial favorite of lawyers all over the world.

Firms would do well to adopt PracticeLeague'sPractice Management software which enables lawyers to go mobile by allowing them to access their cases on their smartphones and complete their work well within their schedule.  

4] Job Sharing

In this option two part-time lawyers share the work load and put in hours separately that adds up to the hours spent by a single full-time lawyer. This can be achieved in two ways –

I] "Twins" model

In this arrangement the two lawyers work on the same cases so the effect is that of a full-time employee contributing his or her share of work.

II] "Islands" model

Here both the lawyers work their respective hours to add up to a full-time lawyer's work hours but they work on completely unrelated cases.

This method is slowly gaining popularity and could be the way of the future.

An effective legal spend management software like PracticeLeague Legal Spend Management platform enables corporate legal departments to manage cost-effectively and bring better visibility and oversight on their outside counsel spend – and other legal costs.

5] The "Gig"

Even the legal industry might not escape the clutches of the "Gig Economy" that is quietly but steadily growing all over the world. This has been made possible by the digitization of work and the desire among workers for better control of their work lives. Lawyers will soon explore the option of choosing their work [cases] rather than quietly work on cases handed down to them by their superiors in a law firm or the legal department of an organization.

In this gig economy lawyers will work only as much as they want to and can take a break whenever they want by simply deciding not to work for a length of time. According to industry watchers "gigging" could well be the popular work model of the near future.

This is why enterprises and law firms should keep pace with emerging legal technology and stay ahead of the curve by using new-age technology like PracticeLeague's Law Practice Management software.

Some enlightened firms have started providing extra incentives like on-site fitness clubs, day care facilities for lawyers raising kids, and even taking care of home chores of their employees. Taking a leaf from the computer software industry's book of employee benefits several enterprises and law firms have started investing in employee welfare schemes that help lawyers achieve a better work-life balance.

This is where legal technology can make a difference to the lawyers' lives in a very positive way. Legal technology will make their work more efficient and cost-effective. PracticeLeague's Enterprise Legal Management platform software will provide multiple benefits to the law firms and organizations which implement them and help in creating more free time for their legal employees so that they can reap the benefits of an effective work-life balance.

PracticeLeague's unique and unified Enterprise Legal Management platform offers you the ability to manage all types of Matters or Cases, like Notice, Litigation, Tax Litigation, Compliance, IPR and Risk. Visit us today at practiceleague.com