Work-Life Balance Resource Centre: Young Lawyers

CBA Articles

Paternity Leave for Lawyers in Canada – Two Solitudes
Quebec society and Quebec employers are doing something right, or at least something decidedly different, when it comes to paternity leave. That raises the questions: what they doing, how can it be improved upon and what can other firms do to emulate their successes?

Professional satisfaction in private practice: strategies for reform
A profession that has structured its role around solving problems for others has been curiously passive in the face of its own discontent.

True flexibility: Work/life balance is customizable for each lawyer
The fight for work/life balance is against a workplace culture, not unique to private practice or the legal profession but historically prevalent in both, that recognizes and rewards only that lawyer for whom living life to the fullest means taking the occasional Saturday off.

Maternity leaves and parental issues: taking the long-term view
It’s cause for celebration for lawyer moms in private practice—the lawyers who balance discoveries and daycare, partnership meetings and PTA meetings. Learning to juggle it all can be a lonely challenge, and one that leads many of them to change career paths.

Finding the Right Fit: Law Firm Fitness Benefits for a Health-Conscious Generation
The lawyer running after the ambulance is a cliché, but at least he was getting some exercise. Firms are recognizing the power of physical fitness for improving job performance, marketing, retention and morale. But not everyone enjoys working out in a gym. As many Canadian law firms are demonstrating, there are creative ways to offer physical fitness benefits.

Successfully Juggling Work and Family: Tips for Lawyers
Rushing to the day care before it closes, taking your budding soccer star to a weekend tournament, attending parent-teacher interviews, and still meeting your targets for billable hours … combining family responsibilities with a legal career is not easy. The good news is it’s not impossible.

Work/Life Balance? Let's Get Flexible First
The future for law firms lies in building a high-value, highly skilled organization that recognizes the value of skills and knowledge and treats staff as a valuable asset.

From Across the Web...

There is Life Outside the Office – Surviving the First Few Years of Practicing Law
Slaw – By Jasroop Grewal (November 2011)

Work/life Balance is Vital to Success for Young Lawyers
The Buffalo Law Journal – By Matt Chandler (January 2011)

A Metric that Holds Partners Accountable for Associate Satisfaction?
AmLaw Daily – By Dimitra Kessenides (September 2010)

My Law Career Lasted Two Years
The Globe and Mail – By Chris Graham (September 2010)

How Gen X Lawyers Can Bridge the Gap, Foster Work-Life Balance
ABA Journal – By Debra Cassens Weiss (August 2010)

The Juggle Struggle: Advice from New Partners on How to be Good at what you Do — and Have a Life, Too
The Recorder (March 2010)

Équilibre Travail-Famille : Que Veulent les Jeunes ?
Droitinc.com – Par Martine Renaud (Février 2010)

Working as Virtual Associate Brings Work/Life Balance
Lawyers Weekly – By Rebecca Jaremko Bromwich (October 2009)

Fearful Associates Opt for Partner Face Time Over Work-at-Home Time
ABA Journal – By Debra Cassens Weiss (April 2009)

A New Generation Defines ‘The Office’
ABA Journal – By Hollee Schwartz Temple and Becky Beaupre Gillespie (February 2009)

Associates Trying to Retain Their Jobs Put Work-Life Concerns On Back Burner
ABA Journal – By Debra Cassens Weiss (February 2009)

Facing Another Request for a Weekend Project? Here’s How to Refuse
ABA Journal – By Debra Cassens Weiss (February 2009)

Generation Y Takes On Work-Life Balance
The Recorder - By Lee Faller, Maria Jones and Christine Morgan (November 2008)

Younger Female Lawyers Play by Their Own Rules
Small Firm Business – By Debra Bruno (January 2008)

Generation of lawyers makes work-life balance a high priority
Daily Journal of Commerce – By Nora Lockwood Tooher (July 2005)

Staying Power – Work-Life Balance Initiatives for Retaining Young Lawyers
North Carolina Bar Association (2005)

After the JD: First Results of a National Study of Legal Careers
NALP Foundation (2004)

The Future of the Legal Profession: The Challenge of Change
Canadian Bar Association – Young Lawyers (2000)

Recruiting Lawyers:  How to Hire the Best Talent
Marcia Pennington Shannon, Susan G. Manch – American Bar Association (2000)