I can see a lot of similarities in this approach as well as general wellbeing instruction. Gaining a greater awareness of why we do the things we do, why we are more likely to ‘react’ and use our emotions more in stressful environments are all positive steps in achieving a balanced, consistent and rational approach to our vocations.

This post is spot on. When you look at the legal profession there is a high divorce rate and also burn out rates are high. I recall listening to an interview with the senior partner of Clifford Chance who, matter of factly, stated that burn out was par for the business and one was left with the impression that if an associate couldn’t hack it, well, tough.

But this is not only about endurance but also the quality of work lawyers do and respect for their clients. A macho culture of “I can bill more hours than you” is stupid.

There is the story of two associates in New York who challenged each other to see who could bill the most hours in a day. One bills the entire 24 hours and say, “Beat that!” The other gets on a plane to Los Angeles and gets another 3 hours in his day and bills 27 hours.

I wonder how many disciplinary complaints and malpractice suits could have been avoided had the lawyer adopted mindfulness techniques. I truly believe that the “everything at once” way a lot of lawyers practice is a veritable breeding ground for mistakes.

When billable hours and targets are discussed you will have to subtract the number from 8800 and what’s left is yours…maybe. Of course, there are the hours you need to create the billables. They have to be subtracted too.

So when some US law firms now want up to 3,000 hours pa, I say there’s half your life gone.

Now think about it and then carefully work out the true hourly rate of your earnings.

Many thanks indeed for your detailed comments on this post.

I tend to agree with you that the culture of time-recording that prevails in some firms, especially the larger City firms, is detrimental to individual performance(not to say also the solicitor-client relationship). However, I would not see shorter hours as a panacea nor a factor in gaining the ‘lexintelligence’ skills necessary to thrive…but lets continue the discussion over lunch when you are next in town.

1st point, how much is the culture of a law firm contributing to lawyer’s needing help to focus? Many other professions face complex and timebound decisions. However, the only other profession which works long hours & faces complex, time critical decisions is the medical profession. It is interesting that the medical profession is taking huge steps to limit the number of hours doctors work. There is no talk of helping doctors with coaching or training to help them focus… it’s all about reducing their weekly workload.

With solicitors expected to work long hours as a norm, with the highest chargeable hours of any profession.. perhaps this needs to be looked at first? I would hazard a suggestion that the law profession possibly has the highest levels of write off of any profession services firm? How many hours are logged as chargeable without any real intention them to charge them to a client?

The legal sector is the least developed market for coaches. This is not a surprise for me, as in my experience of working with & within law firms, personal (non-technical) development for lawyers is often presumed to happen out of work time.

I did some research on how to increase your personal levels of focus & concentration, which led to this blog post.. http://www.theefficiencycoach.co.uk/blog/index.php/personal-efficiency/how-focused-are-you/

As well as taking plenty of breaks, looking after yourself & not working too hard… many of the remaining factors come down to good line management. For example, well-targetted objectives, feedback to improve awareness, regular conversations with line management. From my experience with professional services, these are often rarely carried out, rather than the norm.