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Focus: Magic Circle work-life balance - Work, rest and fair play

What is the point in hashing out this tired subject matter again? Although they may pay a certain amount of lip service to the idea of a work/life balance, law firms (at least the big ones) are never going to genuinely instigate any sort of policy that might actually introduce any such balance. Firms have been pretending to want to make a difference for at least three years now, and the reality is that it will never happen. Instead, the partnership carrot will continue to be dangled to encourage associates to beat themselves up constantly in the hope of attaining something better. The BlackBerry means associates are in the office even when they are not, and that is the fault of client expectations as much as firm requirements. It will be no different in a bank, and certainly not at a US firm. The only way the firms can make a difference is to recognise the sacrifices that associates make every day, and pay them accordingly. Current associate pay does not adequately compensate for the pressures inherent in the job.

26-Jul-2010

5:09 pm