Lawyers’ career routes and job satisfaction
Curious about whether lawyers are happy with their careers, we asked both consultant and employed lawyers how they feel about their chosen paths.
Among the consultant group, a strong 8/10 emerged as their average score for overall professional life satisfaction. Employed lawyers gave a slightly lower rating of 7.3/10. While the difference isn't massive, some consultant respondents challenged that the score might’ve been higher if we tapped into the idea of overall life satisfaction, not just professional life.
Job satisfaction of consultant lawyers compared with employed lawyers (rounded to the nearest whole number):
Diving into consultants’ meaning of success
In a quest to understand what professional or career success truly means, we opted for open-ended responses from consultants. Looking through their insights, one common theme shined through: the satisfaction of delivering valuable work to appreciative clients.
Here’s what they have to say about what matters to them:
- “Delivering high-quality work that enables a business to grow, where the value of my input is acknowledged and appreciated, and the people I work with energise me rather than drain me.”
- “Working on interesting subject matters, building healthy professional relationships, earning a comfortable income, and having time to enjoy it all.”
- “Being able to choose exciting projects at a senior level without losing flexibility and the ability to try new things.”
- “Helping clients do better deals using my skills and experience.”
- “Interesting clients and challenging work — with room to grow and to learn about new topics.”
Of respondents see the consultant route as their long-term future
