One focus of the Study was the extent to how the risk and protective factors relate to different working conditions and environments. A brief description of some of these connections is set out below, and you can find the full assessment at pages 79–146 of the Study's Phase I Report.
- Practice Area and Setting: The Study’s research team analyzed the prevalence rates of the mental health challenges discussed earlier in the course and the impact of the risk and protective factors in relation to difference practice areas and settings. The analysis included looking at differences across ten common practice areas and whether the work was done in a private practice, public or not-for-profit organization, for-profit corporation or education setting. While some minor differences were noted, no single practice area or setting significantly deviated from the overall findings.
- Billable Hour Targets: Annual, minimum billable hour targets are commonly used by law firms to set expectations around work output and performance. Targets vary by practice setting and employer and have been known to range from 1,000 to 2,000 or more. The national average target among all national survey respondents who worked in this model was 1,500. The Study’s research team highlighted that a billable hour represents on average only 68% of the actual hours worked by the legal profession, so the higher the target the more actual hours one needs to work to meet the target. For example, a lawyer with an annual target of 1,500 hours needs to work on average over 53 hours per week to meet that target. This doesn’t include the time spent on professional activities firms may expect lawyers to participate in but not count towards the target, such as administrative tasks, networking and business development, continuing professional development and pro bono work. This example highlights the common difficulty lawyers encounter with their work demands leaving little time and energy for family, friends, community and personal interests.
The pressures associated with the billable hour target is also an important consideration. Reaching or exceeding targets often results in extra compensation, promotion and recognition, while not meeting targets can make one question their ability and worry about job security. This pressure can breed unhealthy competition and comparison among colleagues and push lawyers to unhealthy limits. The Study’s research team found that the number of national survey respondents who felt pressure to meet their targets were virtually the same after the 1,200 hour benchmark:
- 85.3% of respondents that had a target of 1,200 to 1,800 felt pressure to meet their target, similar to
- 85.8% of respondents who had a target exceeding 1,800 hours
Another important finding relating to respondents who have billable hour targets exceeding 1,200 hours, is that these respondents had higher incivility scores, felt less committed to the profession and had a higher intention to leave the profession.
- Technostress: Technostress is defined as the stress that people experience due to the use of information and communication systems and technology. While technological advances over time have helped with workplace efficiency and flexibility, for many it has also led to work overload, information overload, communication overload, difficulty disconnecting from work during off-hours, and increased pressure to correct misinformation clients read online. The speed at which artificial intelligence is advancing has also resulted in an increased fear around job security. The Study results highlighted that technostress is significantly associated with poorer mental health and that respondents who were mothers between the ages of 36 and 40 are more likely to experience technostress.
- Agility: The Study’s research team defined agility as “the ability of organizations, teams or professionals to adapt quickly to a dynamic environment where constraints and demands change quickly.” Internal agility is a workplace’s ability to rapidly change its internal business processes when needed, while external agility is a workplace’s ability to rapidly respond to or capitalize on changes to improve client needs. A more agile workplace can help decrease feelings of work overload, burnout and stress while enhancing resilience and commitment to the work and organization. Having autonomy over your work and support from management is significantly associated with higher levels of agility, while lack of resources is significantly associated with lower levels of agility. In this respect, perceived agility is significantly higher in a private practice setting than in the public and not-for-profit organization setting.
- Compassion Fatigue: The Study’s research team defined compassion fatigue as:
A phenomenon experienced by those providing care to others. It is a state of tension and preoccupation with the suffering of those being cared for, to the point of creating traumatic stress for the caregiver.
The phenomenon was originally studied in the context of medical professionals but has since been broadened to include lawyers and other professionals who face recurring emotional demands in their work.
Compassion fatigue involves paradoxical elements. On the one hand, being able to experience compassion in one’s work can bring considerable satisfaction that you are making a positive contribution to your clients, to those in need and even to the greater good of society. On the other hand, these intense, recurring emotional demands can be depleting and lead to burnout. Being exposed to situations where others have experienced extremely traumatic or stressful events can also result in secondary/vicarious trauma, that can result in serious issues such as fear, sleep difficulties, intrusive images or avoiding reminders of the person’s traumatic experiences.
It is perhaps unsurprising that lawyers working in criminal law, family law, child and youth law and elder law experience very high rates of compassion fatigue, but high prevalence rates exist in several other areas of law (see page 143 of the
Study's Phase I Report). Findings also confirm that compassion fatigue tends to shift after 10 years of professional experience, with respondents experiencing significantly more compassion satisfaction and less burnout and secondary traumatic stress. The Study’s research team emphasized that “the widespread and significant effect of compassion fatigue on all mental health indicators studied cannot be overstated … and highlight the importance of adequately preparing lawyers to deal with high emotional demands.”