Stress on the Rise
Some Bench-Bar Committee members find one survey result especially
surprising; others claim it only matches what they've already seen and
heard. But all agree that it is a dismaying finding: 91 percent of
respondents report that they think law practice is becoming more
stressful each year. This was a new item in the 1999 Bench-Bar Survey,
not included in the last survey in 1997, so no comparison can be made as
to whether the situation has worsened.
The survey also didn't ask why stress is rising. Is it the general
"in your face" attitude flourishing in our society? Is it the fact that
faxes, email, and cell phones - while helpful tools - also crank up the
pressure to do everything in a hurry, including law practice? Is it the
lack of civility legal professionals show each other in the daily course
of business, causing many to feel battle weary at the end of the
day?
The answer may be all these factors and others. But in light of the
survey's results, many Bench-Bar Committee members surmise that
incivility is a major contributing factor to how lawyers feel about
their work. "One thing I find scary," says Milwaukee attorney Karri
Fritz-Klaus, Bench-Bar Committee member, "is that among the newer
lawyers coming into the profession and also among my peers, we are
losing so many good, ethical attorneys who are saying, 'I don't want to
do this anymore.' We are losing great people to other walks of life, and
that's sad."
The State Bar's 1998
Membership Survey (reported in Wisconsin Lawyer, October
1998) bears out Fritz-Klaus' observations. In that survey, 30 percent of
respondents said that if they had it to do all over again, they would
not choose law as their profession. And 25 percent said they were
considering leaving law practice within the next five years. While some
in the latter group simply were planning to retire, 75.5 percent of
resident lawyers who said they were thinking of leaving said it was
because they were feeling frustrated and disillusioned.
Wisconsin Lawyer
