The Gazette 1984

GA Z E T TE

APR I L. 1984

practice. (See the October 1983

ABA Journal,

page 1384,

"Women Lawyers Work Harder, Are Paid Less, but

They're Ha ppy " ). This disparity vanishes, however, when

total household income is counted.

Because financial well-being is largely a matter of

perception, lawyers were asked what they thought about

their economic status. One-third of all lawyers 30 or older

felt they were only " do i ng OK ". Of those under 30,

approximately 40 percent placed themselves in this

category. Another 50 percent of those under 30 felt they

were " u p and c omi ng ," while only 5 percent in this age

range fell " a f f l u e n t ."

As the answers move up the age scale, more and more

members see themselves as affluent and fewer as up and

coming. At 41 to 45 only 14 percent said they were up and

coming, but 55 percent considered themselves affluent.

And despite some very high incomes, only 1 percent of all

those surveyed considered themselves " r i c h ."

A similar pattern emerges when the answers to this

question are sorted by the sex of the lawyer. Of the women

lawyers 35 percent felt they were up and coming and 25

percent felt affluent. The percentages for the male

respondents are the reverse, with 35 percent proclaiming

themselves affluent and 25 percent up and coming.

Members also were asked their opinion of the income

of the average lawyer. Only 1 percent thought the average

lawyer earned far too much, while 44 percent thought the

average lawyer earned somewhat less than he or she

should, and 11 percent thought lawyers earned far less

than what was appropriate.

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Working long hours

According to the results of the time management

portion of this survey, the average ABA member works 47

hours a week. This work week includes an average of four

meetings with clients taking a total of three hours, plus

and slightly more than four hours per week spent on the

telephone. It also includes one hour and 15 minutes in the

c ou r t r oom, a figure that strongly illustrates the amo u nt of

preparation time needed to bring a case to court.

In addition to these hours, the average work week of an

ABA member includes two hours of civic and

pro bono

publico

work, plus three hours and 20 minutes c ommu t i ng

time. The strenuous nature of this schedule is apparent

from the answers to the questions on weekend work. Not

only do 83 percent work at least one Saturday a mo n t h,

but 57 percent work at least one Sunday a mo n t h, too.

Long vacations aren't in vogue, either. Fourteen percent

say they have taken less than one week off, and only 19

percent took more than three weeks.

Seventy-two percent of lawyers travel for business

purposes. Amo ng the travellers, 73 percent are out of

town one to five days a mon t h; 21 percent for six to 10

days a mon t h; only 6 percent for more than 10 days

monthly.

Does hard work lead to success? The results of the

survey were inconclusive. There was no relationship

between working hours and income amo ng any of the age

groups analysed. The only pattern that emerged was the

tendency for women to work slightly fewer hours than

men, with a median of 44 as compared to 47.5 for men.

This difference appears to be related to the smaller

percentage of women in private practice as opposed to

government and corporate legal departments.

With all the d ema nds on their professional time, ABA

members still manage to show a strong interest in

maintaining professional contacts and broadening their

intellectual horizons. Ninety-five percent belong to their

state bar association, 80 to a local or county bar and

almost one-third to some specialized bar. This desire to

associate with other lawyers was the ma j or reason cited

for joining the ABA. When asked if they were interested

in further formal studies, 46 percent expressed an interest

in learning more about computers, 37 percent in studying

finance and 24 percent each in investments and foreign

languages.

Why Law?

When asked their reasons for selecting law as a career,

one-third of the sample indicated that their choice had

been based on a sense of justice and a desire to help others.

The answers to this question were surprisingly uniform

across the age and sex of the respondent. The notable

exceptions are, first, that almost twice the percentage of

women than men had based their career choice on a sense

of justice or a desire to help people. Second, while only 11

percent of the sample as a whole had based their career

choice on the influence of family, almost 25 percent of

those over 55 gave this reason. Third, members 30 and

under were twice as likely as the sample to indicate that

they considered law as a stepping stone to ano t her career.

When asked if they were happy with their career choice,

an overwhelming numb er responded that they were. Only

5 percent said they were moderately unh a ppy with law as

a career, and only 1 percent indicated total unhappiness.