IN FOCUS: The gruelling workloads and office culture driving some junior lawyers out of the profession

“It gets better, not because things are easier, but because the work becomes more satisfying.”

While time and experience naturally alleviate some of these early struggles, some firms said they are also taking concerted steps to help junior lawyers build sustainable long-term careers.

“The management of junior associate workloads boils down to intentional culture, efficient productivity processes and optimal project management,” said Mr Wong, Covenant Chambers’ deputy managing director.

This involves regularly checking in on each lawyer’s capacity and proactively redeploying senior and junior team members to share the load as needs arise.

He said the firm protects boundaries by not rushing non-urgent work unnecessarily and by seeking to arrange reasonable timelines, although this partly depends on other stakeholders in the legal system or in the transaction.

“In any event, we seek to manage timelines internally with the view to ensure that there is sufficient buffer for our teams to produce quality work efficiently and have space for personal time and rest,” he said.

The firm is also structured such that junior lawyers can easily consult team leads without going through several layers, he added.

The mid-sized firm, which has more than 20 lawyers, also intentionally exposes younger lawyers to opportunities in court advocacy and transactional negotiations early in their careers.

“This gives junior lawyers a greater sense of achievement and impetus in their professional development,” said Mr Wong.

For counsel Mr Lim, what made a difference was realising that “sustainability isn’t about avoiding long hours or hard work”, but about managing these demands.

On the advice of a senior, he makes an effort to find small and consistent pockets of time to decompress – such as a full day off every quarter for a day out in Singapore with his wife, on top of any overseas holidays they might take.

“Long holidays are rare. But shorter pauses actually help you in sustaining practice, tremendously. A good dinner, a quiet evening, or even just a short weekend break.”