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.

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.

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