Thomson Reuters, Stellar Performance: Skills and Progression Mid-Year Survey — Summary of Findings For Law Firms (Nov. 2021):
Our findings reveal that the majority (53%) of lawyers surveyed are satisfied with their total working hours. Further, 17% said they desired more working hours, leaving 30% who would like to work fewer hours. Collectively, these differing perspectives resulted in an average desired reduction of just 50 hours annually — at the high level, potentially a pleasantly surprising and encouraging finding. However, the group expressing dissatisfaction with working hours is substantial — 3 of every 10 lawyers — so law firms should not interpret the overall outcome as a signal that all is well.
Considered by gender, the desired reduction in working hours is driven by women, who currently put in approximately 100 more hours annually than men, representing about 5% more.
In line with other working hours data in the industry, younger lawyers in our survey work the greatest number of hours and the oldest age group we analyzed work the fewest. Furthermore, the youngest group shows the greatest discrepancy between current and ideal hours.
Thomson Reuters sent out an online survey in September and gathered responses from 1,170 lawyers in 50 countries who had been identified by their clients as “stand out lawyers” in our Sharplegal.
