I just finished a 10-day vacation through Central Europe, and it was great to get away and enjoy some time off from work. This was the longest time I took off from work in over a decade, and it was extremely restorative to step aside from legal duties for a while. My travel companions on the trip were medical professionals who regularly take longer vacations at least once or twice a year. For a variety of reasons, it is often easier for other professionals like my travel companions to take time off from work than lawyers.
The billable hour requirements at most law firms make taking time off from work more difficult for lawyers than it is for other professionals. Such requirements necessitate that lawyers bill a certain amount of hours per year regardless of whether they take vacation time. Some lawyers might find it difficult to bill enough hours to satisfy such requirements if they take time off. Moreover, some lawyers may not wish to work harder when they are at work to bank sufficient hours so that they can take vacation. Some law firms condition bonuses on the number of hours associates bill, so lawyers have a significant incentive to stay at work and bill as many hours as possible.
Many other professionals do not have anything similar to a billable hour requirement. Indeed, other professionals are assessed more on job performance when they are at work that the total amount of output they generate in a given year. Accordingly, when other professionals take time off, it does not have a significant impact on their ability to meet expectations of employers since their vacation time is not part of their work evaluation.
The schedules of many lawyers might also make it more difficult to take vacations. Many lawyers need to attend court appearances, mediations, depositions, and the like, and attorneys might not have a decision about when these events are scheduled. Although it is often possible to adjourn some of these events, courts and adversaries may be unwilling to reschedule. Indeed, I once cancelled a planned trip because I was unable to reschedule a court appearance even though my adversary consented to the adjournment. Other professionals do not have such scheduling issues, so it might be easier for them to take time off.
Moreover, the culture at many law firms does not promote attorneys taking vacations. Law firm managers often extol associates who bill the most hours, and I have even seen managers praise attorneys who completed tasks on vacation. Attorneys might fear that they will be punished if they take too much vacation, since this might possibly show that they are not sufficiently dedicated to their jobs.
Other professionals might not have much stigma against taking vacations. In some fields, it is common for workers to take all of the vacation days they are assigned in a given year, and in certain finance jobs, it is even mandated that workers take a certain amount of time off each year. This culture makes it much easier for other professionals to take time off of work.
All told, lawyers can learn from other professions and prioritize vacations for attorneys. Vacations can have a number of positive benefits, and law firms should reduce barriers to employees taking vacations from work.
Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothman.law.