Those who embed sustainable leadership capacity in their early-career talent will dominate the next decade, writes Madeline Miller.
Australia’s legal profession is facing a leadership pipeline crisis. New research from the University of Melbourne and ANU, Lawyer Wellbeing, Workplace Experiences and Ethics: A Research Report (2025), shows it is systematically burning out the very people who should become its future leaders.
The numbers are stark: 30 per cent of lawyers experience psychological distress, rising to 43 per cent among those with less than five years of experience. Nearly one in three plan to leave their employer within 12 months. Workplace incivility is widespread, with supervisors often the source. Female lawyers and early-career professionals bear the greatest burden.
Having worked with early-career lawyers across the US and in Australia, following 10 years of practice in entertainment law in Los Angeles and London, I’ve seen these patterns firsthand. The research confirms what I observe: the first five years of practice either build sustainable leadership habits or create burnout cycles that perpetuate dysfunction. The problem is clear – very few good habits are being modelled or supported.
The critical intervention point
The research pinpoints where legal employers must act: the first five years of practice, when professional identity forms and leadership habits solidify. Without structured support, young lawyers either leave or carry forward the behaviours that fracture culture, productivity, and innovation.
Today’s legal talent enters the workforce in a complex social, political, and cultural climate, one that extends beyond the disruptions of COVID-19. Gen Z and younger Millennials seek purpose, sustainable performance practices, and demand development that respects diversity and lived experience. Employers that can’t adapt face accelerating talent loss in a profession already known for high attrition and burnout.
What actually works: A 3-pillar approach
Through my work with legal organisations, I’ve found effective intervention requires addressing three core areas simultaneously:
Targeting the leverage points
The most effective programs focus on two critical groups:
Beyond individual solutions
This isn’t about therapy or wellness perks. The problems are structural: excessive workloads, toxic management practices, and dysfunctional leadership pipelines.
You can’t solve incivility with meditation apps.
What you can do is:
Approached this way, learning and development becomes a formalised psychosocial support system, embedding long-term culture change.
The business reality
Legal organisations that invest in structured early-career leadership development across these three pillars report:
Most importantly, they’re building the leadership pipeline that will define their culture for the next decade.
The strategic question
The Melbourne/ANU findings are clear: the first five years shape both careers and culture. While some legal teams – whether in firms, courts, or government – continue to lose talent to systemic dysfunction, forward-thinking employers are investing in leadership pipeline development.
The question for every managing partner, chief counsel, and senior leader is this: what future are you building right now?
Those who embed sustainable leadership capacity in their early-career talent will dominate the next decade. Those who wait will spend the next five years in a permanent recruitment crisis.
The research provides the roadmap. The question is whether the legal profession will act on it.
Madeline Miller is a lawyer and a leadership and culture strategist.
