When I was in charge of attorney development at my old law firm, I sought to better understand
the Y Generation lawyers.
Not exact matches
Women, and
Generation X and
Y lawyers more generally, are pushing for these changes on the supply side; clients determined to reduce legal fees and increase flexible service are pulling on the demand side.
Over at Idealawg, Stephanie West Allen plays host to a robust debate over whether
Generation Y lawyers — or «millennials,»
lawyers under 30 — who seek work / life balance to the exclusion of focusing on client needs are unrealistic slackers or serious professionals with different priorities than previous
generations.
If that means handling fewer clients to spend more time with children or getting by on four hours of sleep to finish a brief (both of which I've tried over the years), then that's a decision that
Generation Y and all
lawyers must make.
Given that many
Generation Y professionals seem unhappy, young
lawyers may then be among the most satisfied with their lot.
Perhaps the two words that best define
Generation Y lawyers from the survey findings are fluid and flexible.
Generation Y (so - called for who knows - «
Y») and that a trial
lawyer ignores this at his own risk (Well, more aptly, the risk of his client, but it's not so great for the attorney, either).
It took me a few weeks because I kept getting bored with his constant sniping at the particular breed of
lawyer Tannebaum frequently writes to: the
Generation Y, iPad - toting, social media - obsessed Starbucks
lawyers.
«Are
Generation Y Lawyers a Bunch of Slackers?
Many
lawyers, however — especially those two or three
generations removed from
Generation Y — aren't familiar with the social media sites, or whether it's appropriate for
lawyers to create profiles on them.
Tags: ABA, gen
y,
generation y, law firm management, law firms, law practice,
lawyer professional development,
lawyers, managing gen
y, millennials
-LSB-...] Posted by Kramer on June 3, 2009
Generation Y has a bad rap in the workplace these days. We're lazy, don't want to show up on time or actually do any work, and we expect to have the corner office from the day we walk in the door. And if law is your chosen field, you can't really do that. Over at his fine blog, Simple Justice, Scott Greenfield took issue with Gen
Y lawyer and blogger Adrian Dayton, that Gen
Y isn't really lazy, we just want our work to actually have a point.
In my experience working both in - house and in a BigLaw firm, Gen
Y lawyers have been as willing to put in the hours and the work as any other
generation (including Gen X).
February 3 - 4, 2011: Mentoring in the Age of
Generations X and
Y, DRI, Sharing Success — A Seminar for Women
Lawyers, Miami Beach, FL
Finally, if you're looking for an old - fashioned blogger dustup complete with asperity and risk of hurt feelings, Scott Greenfield is feeling snappish toward Adrian Dayton and several others on a variety of topics that include
Generation Y, social media and work / life balance (Greenfield's basically against the latter: «When the going gets tough, no one needs a
lawyer who leaves the office whenever they have something more fun to do.»)
Law firms will likely attempt to improve attorney retention by offering alternative career paths for
lawyers and responding to the aspirations of «
Generation Y.» However, the other major component of attorney retention important to
Generation Y — work - life - balance — remains a thorny problem.