With law firm demand down and office attendance policies still influx, some Big Law leaders don’t believe their workforce is optimally motivated at the moment, and they are struggling with disengagement.

Unlike burnout or “quiet quitting,” which arguably stemmed from mostly short-term dynamics, observers point to a collision of current and long-term trends, such as post-pandemic work and generational shifts, that have led lawyers today to be less committed to or fulfilled in the profession as they were, say, a decade ago.