About a year ago the gazette published my article about lawyer happiness. It caused quite a storm as I was inundated by e-mails from lawyers who could empathise with the article’s clear message about reducing unhappiness for lawyers by focusing on people’s signature strengths.
The article went on to be published in a number of other legal journals and again I received quite a response.
The legal profession is well paid and there is no shortage of people at university waiting to become trainees. So why all the unhappiness. There is a clear inverse correlation between the amount of money you earn and how happy you are. Firms need to understand that chucking money at associates willnot stops associate attrition levels. People want to be lawyers for all sorts of reasons and I have no doubt that money plays a role. However, having a career path, being able to spend time away from the office (to spend their money) to be with their family also rank highly. Yet how many people lead a balanced life?
