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Coffee cart or 15-hour days: Weighing up workplace benefits with wellbeing
While it is not at all a bad thing to want the luxuries that come with a BigLaw firm, young lawyers should consider whether the coffee cart, internal gym and other workplace perks are worth trading in long hours and brutal deadlines.
Naomi Neilson
When Peripheral Blue founder and managing director Mellissa Larkin interviewed for new roles at major Australian and global firms, she said she would be shown the coffee tray that comes around in the morning and the gym she could spend time in if she chose to. While all of that sounds great on paper, to Ms Larkin they were “like hallmark signs that you were never going to get out of that firm”.
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“As a junior lawyer you look and go, ‘oh, this is awesome because I can do this here’, but there is a reason those services are offered,” Ms Larkin told The Protégé Podcast. “If that makes you happy, go for it, but what I will say is that as a long-term proposition, it’s not good for your health and wellbeing and you do need to balance.”
Although Ms Larkin said that it made her happy to work at these firms, there came a time when young lawyers may start “eating lunch at your desk every day, or then you’re taking clients out at night for dinner, or you’re having pizza ordered to the office and then you’re breaking and going to bed at three in the morning”. All of this, she cautioned, will have a long-term impact on health and productivity.
“If you’re working and sitting at your desk for 12 to 15 hours a day and getting very little sleep, there comes a point at which your output becomes sluggish. There can be a degree of reward for presentism in law firms, particularly if you’re billing based on the number of hours you spend on the matter,” Ms Larkin said, adding that she found her wellbeing improved once she switched into breaking up her day evenly.
At her boutique practice, Ms Larkin encourages a “work-life blend” that means she is available for her clients when they need her, but not at the cost of her own wellbeing. Outside of the office, Ms Larkin continues to be there for her children, prioritise her own wellbeing, regularly exercises and gets the right levels of sleep.
“They were the things that early on in my career in BigLaw were a challenge because it wasn’t possible for me to ever have a hobby or because I never knew what time I would get out of the firm,” Ms Larkin said. “When I had children, I’d go home and put them to bed and then log on and work all night or go back to the firm.
“Some people are happy with that. I still work from home a lot, but the difference now is that I don’t have to sit in an office for 12 to 15 hours a day just to be seen in the office. So, when I’m busy, I’m busy and when I’m not, I’m doing all the other things that I was too busy doing other things, but that works for me.”
For young lawyers considering a move into either a small or major practice – or both – Ms Larkin said it is important to consider what works for them at that point in time. It is always important to make time for wellbeing because the “legal profession can be all consuming” and matters may often take up a lot of their time.
“You can get caught up. [Sometimes] it’s a wonderful buzz and a rush, it’s very collaborative and you’re all working together, and the hours are long – but it’s great, particularly when you get a great outcome for your client. It’s wonderful, but it’s also hard to sustain,” she said. “It’s about finding what balance looks like for you.”
Listen to the entire episode here for more tips on deciding which firm is the right one for you, determining whether the workplace benefits are better than the actual work and learning to prioritise mental health with the pressure of different firms.
