\n<\/p>\n
When lawyer Benaiah Lim welcomed his first child at the age of 32, he took the opportunity to go in-house after two years in practice, as he believed it would give him more stability and time with his family.<\/p>\n
Now 35, he has returned to practice as a counsel at Covenant Chambers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I came to realise was that private practice, despite its demands, offers quite a high level of control over how you build your career and how you manage your matters. And I found that difficult to replicate elsewhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As a junior associate, Mr Lim said he felt like he was being pulled in multiple directions, as he was working on each senior\u2019s and each partner\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt my seniority, I have a level of control,\u201d said Mr Lim of his position now. \u201cI have control over my own schedule. I have control over how I want to arrange court timelines, internal deadlines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Thio agreed that the work becomes more satisfying with seniority, when it goes \u201cbeyond the less interesting (but no less important) task of precision drafting\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cA senior disputes lawyer gets more advocacy air time, and gets to develop case strategy directly. \u00a0A senior corporate lawyer gets more embedded in their clients\u2019 business structure and (to) negotiate deals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gets better, not because things are easier, but because the work becomes more satisfying.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe management of junior associate workloads boils down to intentional culture, efficient productivity processes and optimal project management,\u201d said Mr Wong, Covenant Chambers\u2019 deputy managing director.<\/p>\n
This involves regularly checking in on each lawyer\u2019s capacity and proactively redeploying senior and junior team members to share the load as needs arise.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The firm is also structured such that junior lawyers can easily consult team leads without going through several layers, he added.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis gives junior lawyers a greater sense of achievement and impetus in their professional development,\u201d said Mr Wong.<\/p>\n
For counsel Mr Lim, what made a difference was realising that \u201csustainability isn\u2019t about avoiding long hours or hard work\u201d, but about managing these demands.<\/p>\n
On the advice of a senior, he makes an effort to find small and consistent pockets of time to decompress \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cLong 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n