It is quite an event when the person responsible for our nation's, and much of the world's, money supply tells us that money isn't everything. Ben Bernanke did just that in his commencement address on May 8th to the University of South Carolina class of 2010. How does such a speech go so unnoticed?
The idea that money can't buy happiness is not new, of course. As a die-hard Beatles fan in my formative years, I memorized the lyrics to "Can't Buy Me Love" (and just about every other Beatles song before "I Am the Walrus"). Ironically, Hollywood film makers have made fortunes building movies around this theme. And how many times have we misquoted the Biblical phrase, "money is the root of all evil." The full phrase in English is: "The love of money is the root of all evil," a condemnation of greed, not wealth. Haven't we seen that admonition play out repeatedly in our time, from Milken to Madoff, from organized crime to criminally negligent corporations?
There are many reasons people decide to become lawyers. In the '60s and early '70s, plenty of young people influenced by the anti-war movement and the social revolution went to law school because they wanted to make a difference in the world. Even today, the profession attracts people who want to use their degrees to serve the poor. Most people who choose a legal career are motivated by a desire to make a good living in a challenging, respectable and interesting profession. Some even hope to strike it rich.
All of these goals are more difficult to achieve today. Funding for legal services for the poor has been dramatically reduced by state budget cuts and diminishing IOLTA revenues (interest earned on lawyers' escrow accounts and used to help fund legal service organizations). As a result, there are fewer legal services jobs available. Corporations have smaller legal budgets and are being more careful how they spend them, which has sent seismic jolts in major law firms, resulting in large numbers of layoffs and placing severe strain on lawyers' compensation. While a small percentage of lawyers will still get rich, even the size of this elite group is likely to diminish. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing our profession today is redefining the career path for recent law school graduates who are most vulnerable and most affected by these changes. This latter issue is one I hope to better understand as a soon-to-be Bar President, and that I will likely write about in future posts.
For now, however, the burning question is this: Will all these changes cause lawyers and law firms to re-calibrate their priorities? Much of our profession is captive to the metrics of "The American Lawyer" magazine, which places a great deal of emphasis on revenues per lawyer, profits per partner, and most recently, average compensation for all partners (equity and non-equity combined). Many lawyers measure their own success by where they stand in these rankings. But if Bernanke and the social scientists he relies on are right, while these standards may serve as useful measures of lawyers' economic success, they may bear little correlation to the ultimate goal of personal happiness and career satisfaction. And while it is reasonable for all of us to strive in our careers for financial success and security, we would do well to recognize that there is more to being a lawyer than billing hours and collecting money, and more to achieving happiness than amassing wealth.
Where can we find the non-monetary rewards of life? There is no one-size-fits-all solution; we each have to answer that question for ourselves. Perhaps the most universal answer is to surround ourselves in the love of family and friends, and to make time for the hobbies and pursuits we each enjoy. Beyond that, there is the rewarding experience of serving others in pro bono settings, the camaraderie and important activities of the organized bar and other worthy organizations, and the satisfaction of devoting oneself to the highest standards of excellence in the quality of one's work and the provision of service to one's clients. Such pursuits can truly be liberating, freeing us from the tyranny of the billable hour and the profit-above-all-else mentality, and awakening us to a world of previously unimagined possibility.
The idea that money can't buy happiness is not new, of course. As a die-hard Beatles fan in my formative years, I memorized the lyrics to "Can't Buy Me Love" (and just about every other Beatles song before "I Am the Walrus"). Ironically, Hollywood film makers have made fortunes building movies around this theme. And how many times have we misquoted the Biblical phrase, "money is the root of all evil." The full phrase in English is: "The love of money is the root of all evil," a condemnation of greed, not wealth. Haven't we seen that admonition play out repeatedly in our time, from Milken to Madoff, from organized crime to criminally negligent corporations?
There are many reasons people decide to become lawyers. In the '60s and early '70s, plenty of young people influenced by the anti-war movement and the social revolution went to law school because they wanted to make a difference in the world. Even today, the profession attracts people who want to use their degrees to serve the poor. Most people who choose a legal career are motivated by a desire to make a good living in a challenging, respectable and interesting profession. Some even hope to strike it rich.
All of these goals are more difficult to achieve today. Funding for legal services for the poor has been dramatically reduced by state budget cuts and diminishing IOLTA revenues (interest earned on lawyers' escrow accounts and used to help fund legal service organizations). As a result, there are fewer legal services jobs available. Corporations have smaller legal budgets and are being more careful how they spend them, which has sent seismic jolts in major law firms, resulting in large numbers of layoffs and placing severe strain on lawyers' compensation. While a small percentage of lawyers will still get rich, even the size of this elite group is likely to diminish. Perhaps the greatest challenge facing our profession today is redefining the career path for recent law school graduates who are most vulnerable and most affected by these changes. This latter issue is one I hope to better understand as a soon-to-be Bar President, and that I will likely write about in future posts.
For now, however, the burning question is this: Will all these changes cause lawyers and law firms to re-calibrate their priorities? Much of our profession is captive to the metrics of "The American Lawyer" magazine, which places a great deal of emphasis on revenues per lawyer, profits per partner, and most recently, average compensation for all partners (equity and non-equity combined). Many lawyers measure their own success by where they stand in these rankings. But if Bernanke and the social scientists he relies on are right, while these standards may serve as useful measures of lawyers' economic success, they may bear little correlation to the ultimate goal of personal happiness and career satisfaction. And while it is reasonable for all of us to strive in our careers for financial success and security, we would do well to recognize that there is more to being a lawyer than billing hours and collecting money, and more to achieving happiness than amassing wealth.
Where can we find the non-monetary rewards of life? There is no one-size-fits-all solution; we each have to answer that question for ourselves. Perhaps the most universal answer is to surround ourselves in the love of family and friends, and to make time for the hobbies and pursuits we each enjoy. Beyond that, there is the rewarding experience of serving others in pro bono settings, the camaraderie and important activities of the organized bar and other worthy organizations, and the satisfaction of devoting oneself to the highest standards of excellence in the quality of one's work and the provision of service to one's clients. Such pursuits can truly be liberating, freeing us from the tyranny of the billable hour and the profit-above-all-else mentality, and awakening us to a world of previously unimagined possibility.
Comments
Post a Comment