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Lawyers are putting flexibility ahead of money, with more than six in 10 saying they would sacrifice part of their salary for the chance to work fully remotely, according to new research.
Flexible working is fast becoming a powerful bargaining chip in the legal talent race, with new research revealing that lawyers are increasingly willing to trade salary for the freedom to work remotely as firms compete to attract and retain top talent.
New research from US-based Paragon Legal has found that more than six in 10 lawyers (61 per cent) would be willing to take a pay cut in exchange for the freedom to work fully remotely.
The New Legal Talent Equation: Flexibility, Retention, and RTO report surveyed 214 US-based legal professionals to examine their attitudes towards flexible working and to reveal just how much of a priority workplace flexibility has become for lawyers.
While 61 per cent of respondents said they would accept less pay for full-time remote work, almost half (48 per cent) would be willing to sacrifice up to 10 per cent of their salary to secure it.
For some lawyers, the financial trade-off would be even greater.
Three per cent of respondents said they would accept a salary reduction of more than 20 per cent to work fully remotely, while a further 3 per cent would be willing to sacrifice between 16 and 20 per cent of their current salary.
Another 7 per cent said they would accept a reduction of between 11 and 15 per cent.
Beyond this, the report found that nearly half (47 per cent) of lawyers would choose a remote role over a higher-paying position that requires them to work in the office, while a further 18 per cent remained neutral on the trade-off.
Paragon Legal said the findings shine a spotlight on a growing reality for legal leaders, with flexible and hybrid working models “no longer” able to be treated as a workplace perk but instead becoming a key way “high-functioning teams are now being built”.
Return-to-office mandates are also having a tangible impact on lawyers’ career decisions, with rigid workplace requirements prompting some professionals to walk away from opportunities altogether.
The report found that one in six lawyers surveyed had either rejected a job offer or walked away from a role in the past year because of return-to-office requirements.
The reluctance to accept inflexible arrangements extends even further, with 55 per cent of respondents saying they would turn down an attractive job offer if a firm’s return-to-office policy was too strict or lacked sufficient flexibility.
Shannon Murphy, the vice president of recruitment for Paragon Legal, argued that flexibility could unlock an overlooked pool of legal talent, allowing employers to reach highly skilled professionals who have stepped away from traditional practice because conventional working arrangements no longer fit their lives.
“Flexibility isn’t just about where people work. It expands who employers can hire. Some of the most skilled legal professionals have stepped back from traditional practice because the terms didn’t work for their lives,” Murphy said.
“When employers build flexibility into how they operate, they stop competing for the same local pool and start accessing talent they couldn’t reach before.”
