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Legal jobs that actually have a work life balance


turtle2000

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Absolutely - it depends on the nature of the position. I was mainly focusing on advisory roles where you're not as involved with litigation. Deadlines can of course be tight when the legislative process or senior management demands require it, and the work culture and workload also varies between offices/ministries. Apologies if my comment lacked nuance.

But I still think the type of client and work culture in public sector can make a big difference in the overall work-life balance. In my experience, emergency/busy times are often recognized as the exception, rather than the rule. That was not my impression of typical private practice. I think this is worth pointing out because when I was a student, I was constantly fed the idea that being a lawyer necessarily requires constant 80-hour weeks. 

Edited by Cajamz
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Bachtowork
  • Articling Student
8 hours ago, Cajamz said:

I believe that many lawyers at both DOJ and MAG (Ontario) work in counsel positions that mainly involve advisory and solicitor-type work. There are also lawyers who do legislative drafting and policy development work. 

Also worth noting that your client's business hours and work culture can affect when you are expected to be available. If your job mainly involves giving legal advice to public servants who work more "9-5" business hours, then you probably won't have the same hours as a lawyer working with private sector clients who regularly expect them to be available on demand late at night or on weekends.

Of course, these different roles/expectations usually come with lower pay - but as you said, many lawyers are okay with that trade-off.

Thanks! I was under the impression that DOJ and MAG jobs typically involved litigation, since those are the only job postings I have seen. 

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Diplock
  • Lawyer
On 6/11/2022 at 12:58 AM, Cajamz said:

Absolutely - it depends on the nature of the position. I was mainly focusing on advisory roles where you're not as involved with litigation. Deadlines can of course be tight when the legislative process or senior management demands require it, and the work culture and workload also varies between offices/ministries. Apologies if my comment lacked nuance.

But I still think the type of client and work culture in public sector can make a big difference in the overall work-life balance. In my experience, emergency/busy times are often recognized as the exception, rather than the rule. That was not my impression of typical private practice. I think this is worth pointing out because when I was a student, I was constantly fed the idea that being a lawyer necessarily requires constant 80-hour weeks. 

Everybody is talking at cross-purposes in this conversation. Some people are responding to the OP's request for positions that stay explicitly confined to Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. And you're responding to their responses by referencing the incorrectness of assuming that every lawyer works 80-hour weeks.

I'd be willing to participate in this conversation, but everyone seems to have backed into corners that don't relate to what anyone else is talking about. Of course there are many positions that don't require 80-hour weeks - the large majority of them, in fact. But I'm hard-pressed to imagine more than a few that stay Monday-Friday, 9-5. Can we agree on which we're talking about before I bother trying to reply beyond that?

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A few people have actually weighed in and said we basically have 9-5 positions (8:30 or 5:30 being a small modification).

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On 6/10/2022 at 8:43 AM, ZineZ said:

I'm not sure if I agree with this. Folks want to be lawyers for a variety of reasons, and I don't think it's necessarily fair to judge someone for wanting to meet a career goal and also have a life outside of work hours.  

A semblance of work-life balance is possible in this profession, and I won't blame OP for wanting to have it while pursuing a profession they worked hard to enter. 

 

 

I’m not sure I follow what you don’t agree with. 
 

Sure, people want to be lawyers for lots of reasons. If someone wants to be a lawyer to work 9 to 5 though, that’s a bad reason to become a lawyer. As you said “ I am unsure about whether there are any areas of law where things are a strict 9-5.”

All we know at this point is that op wants a job which is 9 to 5. If that is op’s top priority in finding a job, then I don’t judge them for it, but they should probably not pursue law as a career. 

I also agree work life balance is possible in law. I think I have a fairly good work life balance. I don’t have a 9 to 5 good work life balance though. I’m more 8 - 530 with some later nights and occasional weekend work here and there.

In any event, careers in law are very diverse. People are drawn to different areas for different reasons. Picking an area because it has the best hours irrespective of all other criteria is a pretty bad way to pick an area to go into. Which is why op should consider why they wanted to be a lawyer and let that guide their decision.

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Patient0L
  • Law Student

FWIW I know two people who practice law part-time. Both are sole practitioners who work 3-ish days a week out of home offices. One lives in a small-ish town and is basically a notary with a law degree. One is QC, teaches one class a semester (not in law), and does solicitor work in a very niche/obscure area. The former spends the rest of her time with her small children, the latter on volunteer projects.

I also have a family friend who does litigation work mostly for small businesses. He finds his clients through Craigslist. The name of his sole proprietorship references a popular music festival. He goes to festivals all summer wearing a significant amount of body paint (and has quite an unfortunate Instagram feed) and practices law full time during the off-season (not positive how many hours a week).

Goals.

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