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Millennial attorneys appear to now be putting money over everything—a reversal from years past when work-life balance reigned as the top consideration for younger attorneys, a recent survey by Major, Lindsey & Africa and Above the Law has found.

Respondents to the 2021 Millennial Survey said the most important factor in evaluating a potential employer is the compensation package, a revelation made very salient by the latest rounds of associate salary raises propelled by Milbank and Davis Polk & Wardwell. The last iteration of the same survey, in 2019, found that work-life balance was most important to respondents.

It should be noted that survey respondents were not filtered by age, but by position within firms. Given the survey's title, it was made clear to potential respondents that they should be a millennial to participate.

Ru Bhatt, a partner in the associate practice group at Major, Lindsey & Africa, said he interprets this change as partially driven by the millennial generation aging into more senior positions, as well as an admission that a good work-life balance in large firms may never be possible.

"As you know, there have been many strides in the compensation war, and associates very much value that," Bhatt said. "I think what's very interesting is, with the deal flow and how busy things are, associates understand the work-life balance isn't something they may ever achieve in a service industry."

While perhaps elusive, work-life balance is still a major consideration.

When looking at female respondents only, work-life balance, not compensation, was the top factor in evaluating potential employers. Across all respondents, roughly 47% said work-life balance was the No. 1 reason why they would look for other jobs.

But firms with the highest compensation levels also tend to ask the most of their associate in terms of hours worked. So how do the MLA researchers square the two seemingly opposed points?

Michelle Fivel, a partner in Major, Lindsey & Africa's associate practice group, says that those who think their firms have a poor work-life balance don't necessarily believe that another firm will provide the balance they seek. In turn, these attorneys figure that they should make as much money as they can.

"They don't trust that they're actually going to [work 1,800 billable hours a year] at another firm," Fivel says. As they often tell me, 'a law firm is a law firm.'"

Where's the Loyalty?

In the previous Millennial survey in 2019, roughly 40% of respondents said that they wanted to make partner at a law firm, when asked how long they planned to stay. Those times, it appears, have passed.

For the first time, the largest group of attorneys, 31%, said that they intend to stay with their firms for three to five more years when asked how long they would like to work at their firm.

Additionally, more respondents to the survey indicated that they want to work as in-house counsel (29%) than make partner either at their firm or another firm (28%) within 10 years. That's a departure from previous surveys, in which the majority said they want to make partner and just 17.5% said they wanted to work in-house.

Roughly 16% of respondents said they want to go into government or nonprofit work, and 14% said they do not want to be practicing law.

Bhatt and Fivel said the change in attitude is likely influenced in part by the "breakneck" speed at which many associates have been working in the past year. The generation's aging attitudes are another factor.

"Some have a better understanding of what making partner at their shop means," Bhatt says.

But on the whole, the majority of associates appear to be relatively happy in their firms. About 60% of attorneys said their access to meaningful work is either "strong" or "very strong."

A large majority of respondents also said their colleagues work collaboratively and that they feel appreciated for their hard work, suggesting a "working environment that is much more positive than conventional wisdom about large law firm life," Fivel says.