Work-life balance in the legal industry has been decimated in recent years, mostly because of increased work-from-home policies and burdensome expectations from managers. Although many law firms have vacation policies which afford attorneys and staff generous vacation periods, few may feel empowered to take full advantage of time off for fear of upsetting bosses. However, vacation is important to charging the batteries of everyone who works, and all lawyers and staff who are able should take as much time off as they possibly can.
Throughout my legal career, I have not really taken a proper vacation. Earlier in my career, I used to take the last few weeks of the year off, but I never traveled anywhere, and this period was merely a staycation at best. I took long weekends to travel to places, but I never took off for around a week or longer and traveled somewhere to see some sights and relax away from work. This was mainly because I tried to save as much money as possible earlier in my career to pay off student loans and because vacations are difficult for self-employed lawyers since this reduces the amount of money you can earn.
This past week, I took a seven-day, six-night vacation to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the trip was amazing! After experiencing the benefits, I regret not taking vacations earlier, and I plan on taking them as much as practical moving forward. Upon arriving back home, it took some time to rest and recover from traveling abroad, but after that, I feel more invigorated and focused at work.
People should take vacations for many reasons. Perhaps most importantly, people should work to live and not live to work. Some lawyers are so committed to their jobs that they do not want to do much that can take them away from those tasks. Moreover, people might fear that being away from work might make it difficult for lawyers to earn promotions and be seen favorably in the eyes of managers.
However, many bosses are fine with lawyers taking a reasonable amount of time off for vacation. Managers that actually care about their workers understand that lawyers who take time off may be more dedicated to their jobs when they return to work so it actually makes good business sense to let employees do so. I was also surprised by how much clients respect the vacation time of their lawyers. Sure, some clients wished to communicate during my time abroad, and it was easy to facilitate this depending on what I was doing that moment. But far more clients understood that most matters could wait until I returned from vacation, and this possibly humanized me more in the eyes of my clients and solidified the bonds that I have with those clients.
If your employer offers paid vacation time, you should take it. Don’t leave benefits from your employer on the table. I am perpetually surprised with how often workers do not use the benefits offered by their employers. Indeed, earlier in my career, I did not participate in a 401(k) match offered by my employer since I did not understand this benefit, and some workers did not use commuter benefits since there were some administrative tasks associated with this benefit. Perhaps the biggest perk that employers offer that employees do not use is vacation time, and many law firms offer two to four weeks off for workers. Sure, if your employer reimburses attorneys for unused vacation time after they depart the firm, it might make sense to not go on vacation in certain contexts. However, if vacation time is a use it or lose it proposition, then workers should use this benefit as much as possible.
People have different work experiences and may not be able to take vacation for a variety of reasons. However, as the old saying goes, no one ever regrets how little time they spent in an office, and people are far more likely to regret not taking time off. Lawyers can take a stand against the degradation of the work-life balance and recharge their batteries more by taking a proper vacation.
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.
