(Credit: NDABCREATIVITY/Adobe Stock) Fuzzier Pathways, Changing Priorities Dent Appeal of Partnership to Today's Young Attorneys
Statistics show the majority of associates don't want to make partner at their current firms. One difference from past generations is that millennials and Gen-Z have been encouraged to find greater purpose in their lives.
August 08, 2024 at 10:10 AM
8 minute read
What You Need to Know
- Many partners in Big Law say that millennial and Gen Z associates are less motivated to make partner and want more work-life balance.
- Associates say there is a less clearly defined path for them to make partner, leading many to leave Big Law firms and seek out their own paths.
- Even as lawyer productivity is down, many insist that this is because of remote work and technological advances, not because of associates working less hard.
When Beth Olsen got to her seventh year as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell, she lifted her head from her heavy workload and considered what she wanted from the rest of her career.
"I looked around and thought, 'Oh, wow, I'm senior now. I'm at a great firm, I have substantive work. But do I want to make a life here? Do I want to make partner?' The answer was, 'No,'" she said in an interview.
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