2022 Highlights: The Importance of Cash and Culture in Lawyer Retention
With 2022 winding down, Legal Current is reflecting on the Legal Professionals business’s milestones from the year. Today we look at the Law Firms Competing for Talent in 2022: Will Lawyers Stay or Will They Go? report – and what a difference a few months makes.
When the legal industry was buzzing about lawyer retention and recruitment earlier this year, Reuters reporter Karen Sloan summed up how it was playing out: “Demand for lawyers has catapulted salaries to new heights as law firms compete for talent and clients.”
Law firm leaders wanted to know more about which factors attorneys weighed when deciding whether to remain at their current firms or pursue other opportunities. And the Law Firms Competing for Talent in 2022: Will Lawyers Stay or Will They Go? report provided insights, with in-depth findings from analysis of law firm financial data and interviews with thousands of attorneys.
The report found that attorneys ranked factors such as firm culture, a clear career path, feeling supported in their work, and flexibility on when and where to work as more important than compensation or workload. In coverage of the report for Reuters, Jenna Greene noted it “… offers some spot-on observations to support the notion that a paycheck is only one piece of the puzzle.” She concluded: “So yes, I think it’s safe to say that money is still important. The real question is how much it matters.”
The report also noted technology may play a role in influencing retention. In Above the Law, Joe Patrice examined why tech-savvy firms are more likely to retain attorneys: “Attorneys that feel more empowered to get the work done efficiently and without frustration are going to want to stay. … It’s a lot easier to keep working and perform that last triple-check when using your computer doesn’t feel like a root canal.”
The question now is, Will law firm turnover taper in 2023?
Amid ongoing economic uncertainty, it’s unclear what factors will keep attorneys from leaving their firms – or even if it will be their choice to stay. With industry headlines dominated by law firm layoffs rather than stories of how “associates rake in cash,” what’s clear is that the beginning of 2023 will be quite different than the start of 2022.
