Attorney Erin Clifford, managing director at Clifford Law Offices, corporate wellness consultant and coach at Erin Clifford Wellness, presented a webinar entitled “High Performance Without Burnout: Practical Well-Being Strategies for Lawyers,” discussing how law firms can shape company culture to promote well-being and strengthen resilience.

Clifford acknowledged that the legal profession is not a typical 9-to-5 and that every legal workplace faces different demands, whether in private practice, government, nonprofit organizations or in-house counsel.

Despite those differences, she said lawyers share a common challenge: “We all are under the same pressures, because there are always more deadlines, more emails, more things to do, and because of that I really think that we collectively just try to push through everything, and we have limited time then for recovery.”

Clifford said the No.1 stressor for many lawyers is the feeling that they must always be “on,” and that constant connectivity has made it increasingly difficult for them to disconnect from work.

 “We walk around all day with these little computers in our hands,” she explained. “Everything, even our profession, got moved so much online, and so we really do feel like we can never turn it off, and because of that, we’re seeing some troubling lawyer well-being stats, whether that’s people struggling with depression, anxiety or substance misuse.”

Citing the World Health Organization, which defines burnout as chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, Clifford emphasized that burnout develops gradually.

“Burnout is stress that is going unchecked,” she clarified. “It might show up for some people as exhaustion, or maybe you start to develop a cynicism towards your work, and that’s kind of a new thing for you. Perhaps you just have reduced effectiveness in your career. I tend to think of burnout in terms of cups. … When you start your legal career, or maybe when you change jobs, and you’re all pumped up and excited, you feel like you have this whole cup that’s full, but over time, if you’re not refilling that cup back up, it slowly gets drained.

“We want to make sure we’re doing stuff regularly to fill our cups back up, because otherwise we struggle with things around emotional challenges, physical, mental, and sometimes relational,” she continued. “So, it’s really important that we are doing things to take care of ourselves, especially in a profession that is always so in demand.”

Rather than viewing burnout as an individual concern, Clifford argued that law firms must recognize it as an organizational challenge.

“We hear studies all the time of a lot of lawyers wanting to change offices, especially the younger generations. It impacts the whole firm’s performance, and then, of course, can lead to some mental and physical well-being challenges. And this is why I look at burnout as not a personal issue. I really believe it’s an organizational issue. I think it’s an issue in our whole profession, which is why it matters for us to talk about it and collectively find ways to try to help our colleagues,” she said.

Warning signs of burnout may include irritability, disengagement, communication challenges, loss of interest, behavior changes, mood swings and even physical symptoms ranging from chronic pain to cardiovascular issues.

“Overworking is something we glorify in this profession,” Clifford said. “If you are that person that comes in at 7 a.m. and you leave way after everyone else, we want to give you a gold star for that. And while that might be great, the truth of the matter is you can only sustain that for so long, because while you might look like you’re excelling externally, you’re probably burning out, and eventually something is going to give, and over time that becomes overwhelming, and then you wake up one day, and you just don’t feel like yourself.

“[Burnout] really does impact our whole life as an attorney,” she added. “The truth of the matter is, well-being isn’t just about self-care, but it also is a performance strategy.”

Strategies to improve well-being

Clifford outlined several practical strategies for improving well-being, beginning with emotional intelligence.

“Our whole life runs around emotions and feelings, impacting how we interact with people every single day,” she said.

She encouraged lawyers to regularly check in with themselves throughout the day and identify simple ways to reset, whether through music, deep-breathing or another activity that helps restore focus.

Boundaries were another central theme Clifford discussed.

“When I say boundaries to lawyers, they roll their eyes at me. They think I’m just going to tell them that they should work less, and/or that we should just let everyone work from home, and that’s absolutely not what I mean,” Clifford said. “Having boundaries makes you more efficient. It also makes your office run better, because boundaries, they’re not just about saying no; they manage expectations.

“Think about a meeting. If I go into a meeting and there’s no clear agenda, we’re not starting and stopping on time, the right people aren’t even in the meeting,” she explained. “We need to have boundaries in place, so we have a lot of structure for the things that we actually want to focus on, whether that’s in the office or in our personal lives.”

Communication practices offer another opportunity to establish healthier boundaries, she shared.

“I, personally, believe you do not need to be available 24/7, and I think that has changed a lot in our profession, but how do you actually set that boundary? That’s always what’s tricky for people, and so one thing you can do is put your hours in your email signature,” she said. “Make sure people know how to get a hold of you if it’s an emergency … but make sure you have a conversation about what an emergency is, because it’s not always the same to everyone.”

Clarity around deadlines is another way firms can reduce unnecessary stress.

“Be really clear about what your expectations are for when things are actually due, because here’s the thing: if everything is a fire drill, people aren’t going to know when they really need to get something done quickly,” Clifford said.

“Microbreaks” can also be used to mitigate burnout, she added.

“When you think of time management, this is really about energy management and performance management. When you take a microbreak, the research tells us that you are going to come back and you are going to be 40 percent more effective, 40 percent more focused. It also lowers your stress; it boosts your cognition. … What counts as a microbreak movement? A lot of lawyers I work with love to just go walk around, just get outside. So, go for a walk, get up, stretch, do some desk exercises.”

Clifford concluded the webinar by encouraging firms to examine the workplace habits and expectations that shape their everyday culture.

“Think about what is draining the lawyers or the staff performance in your offices. I think a lot of times we assume that it’s the work, and here the reality is there is a lot of work in this profession, but I also think it comes from a lot of other things: poor communication, when there’s no boundaries in the office, when no one's respecting each other’s boundaries, being part of that ‘always on’ culture,” Clifford said,

“I think it's important to note that you don’t need a title to shape culture. I think a lot of times we think that culture in an office is shaped by the senior attorney, the founding attorney, the leaders, the CEO, but the truth of the matter is every single person in your office shapes culture, and we model each other’s behavior,” she said. “For example, if I send an email out way after hours and I expect an immediate response from somebody, that’s shaping culture. If I don’t respect that individual’s boundaries, that’s shaping culture. If I give someone a hard time for using their vacation time, that shapes culture.”

Clifford added that shaping firm culture should include rewarding positive behaviors and shutting down negative behaviors when they arise.

“At the end of the day, not only is it good for the individuals’ well-being, but it’s going to drive the whole health of your law firm or your organization. Well-being drives productivity, it drives financial growth, it drives retention, it lowers costs, and it builds resilience. So, well-being again is crucial for the firm and for the organization performing in the way that we want it to,” she said.

A recording of the webinar High Performance Without Burnout: Practical Well-Being Strategies for Lawyers remains available to watch online.