On September 23, 2023, Vanessa Ford showed how broken the legal profession is and how important it is to fix it.
A partner at a prominent firm, she had just completed a milestone deal: selling a soccer team to a private equity group. Her colleagues liked and respected her. She was intelligent and dedicated; she had a successful career with a promising future.
But ultimately, the pressures became too much, and she died amid a mental health crisis.
Her story is not uncommon. Lawyers, in general, are twice as likely as the general population to contemplate suicide, and those who report a high level of stress are 22 times more likely to do so. Fifty-eight percent of lawyers report high anxiety, 21% are problem drinkers, most of the lawyers I work with don’t get enough exercise, which makes everything from heart disease to mental acuity worse. Lawyers are also 3.6 times more likely to be depressed than non-lawyers.
The list continues, and though different studies will show slightly different details, the trends and their impact on the legal profession, as it is today, are disastrous.
That there is an issue isn’t news—firms and the press have talked about it for years, yet very few firms have made positive changes to address the problems. Most firms have made lackluster gestures, hoping the news cycle will shift.
We shouldn’t stand for shallow hopes and prayers – it is possible for lawyers to have rewarding careers that strengthen their firms and support their lives.
But Wait, Practicing Law Is Stressful, Right?
I was a practicing attorney for 12 years and have worked with lateral partners looking for better-fit firms for over 15 years. Over my career, I’ve talked to a lot of lawyers at all levels of the profession.
Yes, the legal profession is challenging, but it doesn’t have to be life-threatening.
The reactions I often hear to stories like Vanessa Ford’s make me livid. The profession is tough; that’s how it is. There’s frequently a snarky dose of machismo: “You’ve gotta be tough to be one of us.”
This is absurd.
Law is often high-stakes, and the results are always crucial to clients. We know that sleep-deprived, depressed, malnourished, and unhealthy lawyers are less productive and more prone to error than those who aren’t holding on by will alone.
We all want to serve our clients well; in what universe is less productive, more error-prone, and driven to suicide the best way to serve clients?
There is a better way.
After years of working with lawyers and firms, I’ve codified that better way into 6-Pillars. In my experience, happy lawyers consistently focus on these six areas. I call them the 6-Pillars to Be(coming) a Happy Rainmaker because one crucial aspect of being a happy lawyer is having a book of business.
I’ve formulated these 6 Pillars around the lawyer; these are what lawyers should do to be happier in their careers. But I’ve seen that firms that embrace these pillars also do well: they have happier lawyers, more revenue, and better results.
The 6-Pillars are:
- Care for Yourself: You can’t effectively work if you are not living and healthy.
- Develop Business: Lawyers need a book of business, and having clients who rely on you for advice is intellectually rewarding and financially essential.
- Define Boundaries: Without boundaries, today’s work takes over your life, creating personal issues and limiting your ability to create something better for the future.
- Plan Intentionally: An unplanned career and chaotic calendar are rarely the most satisfying, and defining boundaries is impossible without a plan.
- Learn Continuously: The world shifts, so learning can’t stop with law school; continuous learning increases your value to clients, colleagues, and your firm.
- Design a Legacy: clarify what you want to be known for today amongst your peers and in the future when you retire.
A career is a marathon, not a sprint, and lawyers who consistently focus on these six pillars over time, even if it’s just .1 of an hour, are more successful and happier in their work.
If you’d like to be happier in your career, learn more about the 6-Pillars here. I’m gathering everything I can on the 6-Pillars and creating blogs, interviews, resources, and more, and I am putting them all on this page as a resource for you.
My goal is to give you information you can use right away, in as little as .1, so that you can start building a happier career and that none of us read another tragic story like Vanessa Ford’s. A happy, successful legal career is possible; the 6-Pillars will show you how.
