For many of us, September is the “real” beginning of the year. Vacations are over, children go back to school and we buckle down at work. So, I am wondering about the management decisions firm leadership has made to support new office realities in this “new” year.

The major change—a theme in answers from my panel of small/midsize firm lawyers—is a willingness to accept the need to adapt to new employee attitudes regarding the place of work in their lives. In the 20th century, work was king; other parts of our lives revolved around it. Today, younger employees want work to be only one part of a total life.