Joining a large law firm has long been considered a lucrative and desirable career path, giving a degree of certainty over career progression and high earnings. However, our recent Gen-Z survey suggests that junior lawyers are increasingly seeking alternative career paths earlier on, including in-house positions that they believe offer a better work-life balance.
This should ring alarm bells for law firm leaders, who must adapt to the changing needs of their young talent if they want to retain them, particularly given the up-front financial and time investment by the law firms in their careers. However, these young lawyers feeling burnt-out by law firm life should also consider that their idealised picture of working in-house may be more myth than fact and will involve an adjustment to their ways of working.
